zawnnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zawn mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zawn. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is used in south-western English regional dialect.
How common is the noun zawn?
| 1870 | 0.0002 |
| 1880 | 0.0002 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0002 |
| 1910 | 0.0001 |
| 1920 | 0.0002 |
| 1930 | 0.0003 |
| 1940 | 0.0003 |
| 1950 | 0.0004 |
| 1960 | 0.0006 |
| 1970 | 0.0007 |
| 1980 | 0.0008 |
| 1990 | 0.0009 |
| 2000 | 0.0009 |
| 2010 | 0.001 |
How is the noun zawn pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zawn come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the noun zawn is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zawn is from 1865, in the writing of Robert Hunt, chemist and photographer.
zawn is a borrowing from Cornish.
Etymons: Cornish sâwn.
Nearby entries
- zarf | zurf, n.1836–
- zari, n.1969–
- zariba, n.1849–
- zariba, v.1885–
- zarnich, n.1612–
- Zarp, n.1895–
- zarzuela, n.1888–
- zat, n.1934–
- zatch, n.1950–
- zawiya, n.1836–
- zawn, n.1865–
- zayat, n.1823–
- zayde, n.1946–
- zazen, n.1727–
- zazzy, adj.1961–
- Z band, n.1950–
- ZBB, n.1976–
- Z-bed, n.1973–
- Z-car, n.1961–
- Z-day, n.1925–
- Z-DNA, n.1979–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1865–A fissure or cave in a coastal cliff.
- 1865
The blue flames reached the top of the ‘Zawn’.
R. Hunt, Popular Romances W. Eng 281 - 1955
A..rock platform commands an impressive view down the serrated length of the ridge on one side and has a..sheer drop down into a zawn on the other.
M. E. B. Banks, Commando Climber i. 15 - 2001
Above vertiginous zawns the path past Morvah is overgrown, untrodden for three months, almost indiscernible.
Guardian (Nexis) 27 June
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
zawn typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zawn is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zawn, n., 1870–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.0002 |
| 1880 | 0.0002 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0002 |
| 1910 | 0.0001 |
| 1920 | 0.0002 |
| 1930 | 0.0003 |
| 1940 | 0.0003 |
| 1950 | 0.0004 |
| 1960 | 0.0006 |
| 1970 | 0.0007 |
| 1980 | 0.0008 |
| 1990 | 0.0009 |
| 2000 | 0.0009 |
| 2010 | 0.001 |