zebrina, n.

zebrina
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zebrina_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zebrinanoun

## Earlier version

- zebrina in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zebrina mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zebrina. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zebrina?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1840 | 0.014
1850 | 0.015
1860 | 0.015
1870 | 0.015
1880 | 0.016
1890 | 0.016
1900 | 0.016
1910 | 0.013
1920 | 0.012
1930 | 0.011
1940 | 0.011
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.01
1970 | 0.0092
1980 | 0.0087
1990 | 0.0081
2000 | 0.0076
2010 | 0.0067

### How is the noun zebrina pronounced?

#### British English

/zɛˈbriːnə/
zeb-REE-nuh
/zəˈbrʌɪnə/
zuh-BRIGH-nuh

#### U.S. English

/zəˈbrinə/
zuh-BREE-nuh

### Where does the noun zebrina come from?

Earliest known use

1840s

The earliest known use of the noun zebrina is in the 1840s.

OED's earliest evidence for zebrina is from 1846, in Farmer's Magazine.

zebrina is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin Zebrina.

### Nearby entries

1. zebra rock, n. 1895–
2. zebra rush, n. 1882–
3. zebra shark, n. 1804–
4. zebra skin, n. 1774–
5. zebra spider, n. 1806–
6. zebra suit, n. 1853–
7. zebra swallowtail, n. 1855–
8. zebra wolf, n. 1808–
9. zebrawood, n. 1768–
10. zebra woodpecker, n. 1884–
11. zebrina, n.1846–
12. zebrine, adj. a1810–
13. zebroid, adj. & n. 1881–
14. zebrule, n. 1899–
15. zebu, n. 1771–
16. zecchino, n. 1572–
17. Zechstein, n. 1798–
18. zed, n. c1175–
19. zedbed, n. 1954–
20. zedoary, n. Old English–
21. zedonk, n. 1961–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin Zebrina.
< scientific Latin Zebrina, former genus name (A. Schnitzlein 1849, in Bot. Zeitung vol. 7 870/2) < zebra zebra n. + ‑ina (see ‑ine suffix1); so called in allusion to the striped leaves of some species.

## Meaning & use

Botany.

1. 1846–
   Any of various perennial herbaceous plants of the (former) genus Zebrina, native to Mexico, Central America, and South America, and widely cultivated as indoor plants, typically having ovate striped leaves and clusters of small pink or purple flowers. Also (in form Zebrina): the (former) genus itself. Cf. Tradescantia n.
   Also called Wandering Jew.
   Plants formerly included in the genus Zebrina are now placed in the genus Tradescantia (family Commelinaceae).
   1. 1846

      > Almost all the best stove plants,..particularly the zebrina, and others named in our last, are finely in bloom.

      Farmer's Magazine January 91/2
   2. 1883

      > Tradescantia leiandra... Referred doubtfully by Clarke to Zebrina, but it has none of the characteristics of that genus.

      American Acad. Arts & Sciences 1882–3 vol. 18 167
   3. 1920

      > Zebrina. Wandering Jew.

      L. H. Bailey, Bot. for Secondary Schools 335
   4. 1946

      > English Ivy, Tradescantia, and Zebrina (to trail over edge [of a window-box]).

      M. Free, All about House Plants iii. 15
   5. 1960

      > The green or white and green striped zebrinas.

      Times 30 January 11/2
   6. 2003

      > Zebrinas like moist soil, while their cousins prefer to dry out a bit between waterings.

      1000 Gardening Questions & Answers (New York Times) xiii. 593/2
   plants
   1. milkwood 1696–
      Any of various trees having a milky sap; esp. (a) Jamaican the tree Pseudolmedia spuria (family Moraceae); (b) South African any of several trees of…
   2. bignonia 1719–
      Any of numerous plants of the genus Bignonia or family Bignoniaceae, comprising mainly tropical and subtropical American trees, shrubs, and lianas…
   3. Molucca balm 1731–
      Any of several plants constituting the genus Moluccella (family Lamiaceae (Labiatae)), characterized by large, green funnel-shaped calyces…
   4. gunnera 1789–
      A plant of the genus so called, esp. G. manicata, cultivated for its large ornamental leaves. Cf. prickly rhubarb, n.
   5. lantana 1791–
      An evergreen herb or shrub of the genus so called, belonging to the family Verbenaceæ, often a native of subtropical America, and bearing heads…
   6. aubrietia 1829–
      The common name of a member of the genus Aubrieta of spring-flowering dwarf perennial plants belonging to the family Cruciferæ, of trailing…
   7. zebrina 1846–
      Any of various perennial herbaceous plants of the (former) genus Zebrina, native to Mexico, Central America, and South America, and widely…
   8. alocasia 1858–
      Any of various plants constituting the genus Alocasia (family Araceae), comprising rhizomatous and tuberous perennials native chiefly to tropical…
   9. billbergia 1858–
      A genus of ornamental and fragrant epiphytes (family Bromeliaceæ), natives of the forests of tropical America.
   10. prickly thrift 1866–
       A name given to various plants. Hence extended to other species of Armeria: e.g. great thrift n. A. Cephalotes, of the Mediterranean region. plant…
   11. bocconia 1867–
       A tall herbaceous plant or shrub of the papaveraceous genus of the name, with large lobed leaves and panicles of flowers. The favourite species is…
   12. prickly rhubarb 1895–
       Any of several large ornamental waterside plants of the genus Gunnera, including G. manicata and G. tinctoria, which have very large leaves borne…
   13. prayer plant 1951–
       A Brazilian plant, Maranta leuconeura (family Marantaceae), with irregular, three-petalled, white flowers, often cultivated as a house plant for…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zɛˈbriːnə/
zeb-REE-nuh
/zəˈbrʌɪnə/
zuh-BRIGH-nuh

### U.S. English

/zəˈbrinə/
zuh-BREE-nuh

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zebrina typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zebrina is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zebrina, n., 1840–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1840 | 0.014
1850 | 0.015
1860 | 0.015
1870 | 0.015
1880 | 0.016
1890 | 0.016
1900 | 0.016
1910 | 0.013
1920 | 0.012
1930 | 0.011
1940 | 0.011
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.01
1970 | 0.0092
1980 | 0.0087
1990 | 0.0081
2000 | 0.0076
2010 | 0.0067

zebrina, n. was revised in June 2018.

zebrina, n. was last modified in July 2023.