Zechstein, n.

zechstein
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zechstein_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# Zechsteinnoun

## Earlier version

- Zechstein in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zechstein mean?

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

### How common is the noun Zechstein?

About 0.08occurrences per million words in modern written English

1790 | 0.0077
1800 | 0.024
1810 | 0.039
1820 | 0.053
1830 | 0.061
1840 | 0.07
1850 | 0.073
1860 | 0.076
1870 | 0.071
1880 | 0.061
1890 | 0.05
1900 | 0.051
1910 | 0.047
1920 | 0.047
1930 | 0.052
1940 | 0.064
1950 | 0.076
1960 | 0.081
1970 | 0.076
1980 | 0.075
1990 | 0.083
2000 | 0.084
2010 | 0.072

### How is the noun Zechstein pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛkstʌɪn/
ZECK-stighn

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɛkˌstaɪn/
ZECK-stighn

### Where does the noun Zechstein come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun Zechstein is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zechstein is from 1798, in a translation by G. Mitchell.

Zechstein is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German Zechstein.

### Nearby entries

1. zebra swallowtail, n. 1855–
2. zebra wolf, n. 1808–
3. zebrawood, n. 1768–
4. zebra woodpecker, n. 1884–
5. zebrina, n. 1846–
6. zebrine, adj. a1810–
7. zebroid, adj. & n. 1881–
8. zebrule, n. 1899–
9. zebu, n. 1771–
10. zecchino, n. 1572–
11. Zechstein, n.1798–
12. zed, n. c1175–
13. zedbed, n. 1954–
14. zedoary, n. Old English–
15. zedonk, n. 1961–
16. zee, n. 1580–
17. Zeelander, n. c1400–
18. Zeelandic, adj. 1802–
19. Zeelandish, adj. 1593–
20. Zeeman, n. 1897–
21. zeep, n. 1878–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German Zechstein.
< German Zechstein (16th cent.) < a first element of uncertain origin (see note) + Stein stone n.…
< German Zechstein (16th cent.) < a first element of uncertain origin (see note) + Stein stone n.

### Notes

The first element of the German noun is unclear. It may be zech (now regional), variant of zäh tough adj., with allusion to the consistency of the stratum. However, since the stratum is found in mines, it could also be Zeche mine (Middle High German zech, zeche; already in Old High German as zehha in sense ‘guild’), cognate with Old English teoh race, band, company, Old Icelandic té permission, order (further etymology uncertain; perhaps ultimately < the same Germanic base as tee v.2).

## Meaning & use

Geology.

1. 1798–
   Limestone of the Upper Permian period forming strata underlying parts of northern Germany, Poland, and north-eastern England; the series of sedimentary rocks containing such limestone.
   Zechstein Sea noun [after German Zechsteinmeer (1851 or earlier)] (the name of) a former sea on the bed of which these rocks were deposited.
   1. 1798

      > Small cellular Limestone; (Zechstein [German Zechstein]) from Eisleben in Mansfeld.

      G. Mitchell, translation of D. L. G. Karsten, Descr. Minerals in Leskean Mus. vol. II. 403
   2. 1823

      > The miners and geognosts of Germany..distinguish compact limestone (zechstein) from the copper-slate which it immediately covers, and the superposed gypsum and fetid limestone. I call by the term zechstein the entire group.

      translation of A. von Humboldt, Geognostical Essay on Superposition of Rocks 299
   3. 1855

      > The zechstein and rauchwacke represent on a greater scale the yellow magnesian and upper laminated limestone of the north of England.

      J. Phillips, Manual of Geology viii. 251
   4. 1884

      > When the Kupferschiefer was being deposited over the floor of the basin, the newly submerged faulted area must have been covered by the Zechstein sea.

      Mineral Magazine vol. 6 96
   5. 1960

      > Part of the Zechstein Sea..covered northern Europe.

      R. Casanova, Fossil Collecting (1970) iv. 78
   6. 1979

      > Beneath NE England, in the North Sea and in Germany, Zechstein deposits comprise five major sedimentary cycles, each commencing in shelf carbonates and grading up into evaporites.

      R. Anderton et al., Dynamic Stratigraphy of British Isles xiii. 185/1
   7. 2006

      > Underneath the Buntsandstein lies a marine limestone known as the Zechstein, found across Europe and into England.

      D. H. Erwin, Extinction iii. 72
   geology
   1. roach 1798–
      British regional. An earthy, gritty, or coarsely textured rock. Cf. roche, n.¹ 5.
   2. Zechstein 1798–
      Limestone of the Upper Permian period forming strata underlying parts of northern Germany, Poland, and north-eastern England; the series of…
   3. magnesian limestone 1799–
      Chiefly Geology. A limestone containing magnesium salts; spec. (also with capital initials) a stratigraphic division of the Permian system in…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛkstʌɪn/
ZECK-stighn

### U.S. English

/ˈzɛkˌstaɪn/
ZECK-stighn

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also with lower-case initial.

## Frequency

Zechstein typically occurs about 0.08 times per million words in modern written English.

Zechstein is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 Zechstein, n., 1790–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1790 | 0.0077
1800 | 0.024
1810 | 0.039
1820 | 0.053
1830 | 0.061
1840 | 0.07
1850 | 0.073
1860 | 0.076
1870 | 0.071
1880 | 0.061
1890 | 0.05
1900 | 0.051
1910 | 0.047
1920 | 0.047
1930 | 0.052
1940 | 0.064
1950 | 0.076
1960 | 0.081
1970 | 0.076
1980 | 0.075
1990 | 0.083
2000 | 0.084
2010 | 0.072

Zechstein, n. was revised in June 2018.

Zechstein, n. was last modified in September 2024.