zoomorphize, v.

zoomorphize
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoomorphize_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoomorphizeverb

## Earlier version

- zoomorphize, v. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the verb zoomorphize mean?

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

### How common is the verb zoomorphize?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1940 | 0.0016
1950 | 0.0013
1960 | 0.0012
1970 | 0.001
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0004
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0002

### How is the verb zoomorphize pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈmɔːfʌɪz/
zoo-uh-MOR-fighz
/ˌzəʊəˈmɔːfʌɪz/
zoh-uh-MOR-fighz

#### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈmɔrˌfaɪz/
zoo-uh-MOR-fighz
/ˌzoʊəˈmɔrˌfaɪz/
zoh-uh-MOR-fighz

### Where does the verb zoomorphize come from?

Earliest known use

1940s

The earliest known use of the verb zoomorphize is in the 1940s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoomorphize is from 1940, in the writing of A. B. Cook.

zoomorphize is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zoomorph n., ‑ize suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zoomechanics, n. 1888–1903
2. zoomelanin, n. 1858–
3. zoometric, adj. 1892–
4. zoometry, n. 1878–
5. zooming, n. 1892–
6. zooming, adj. 1904–
7. zoom lens, n. 1932–
8. zoomorph, n. 1883–
9. zoomorphic, adj. 1849–
10. zoomorphism, n. 1822–
11. zoomorphize, v.1940–
12. zoomorphizing, n. 1895–
13. zoomorphosed, adj. 1955–
14. zoom shot, n. 1930–
15. zoomy, adj. 1931–
16. zoomythic, adj. 1889–
17. zoon, n. 1851–1905
18. zoon, v. 1880–
19. zoon, int. 1863–
20. -zoon, comb. form
21. zoonate, n. 1798–1857

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zoomorph n., ‑ize suffix.
< zoomorph n. + ‑ize suffix, after anthropomorphize v.

Compare earlier zoomorphizing n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1940–
   transitive. To make zoomorphic; to attribute an animal form or nature to.
   1. 1940

      > The wood anthropomorphized into the hero, the bow zoomorphized into his eagle.

      A. B. Cook, Zeus vol. III. ii. (Addenda) 1075
   2. 1968

      > That he zoomorphizes man is to be expected.

      British Journal of Psychiatry vol. 114 1184/2
   3. 1984

      > Are we simply zoomorphizing man?

      Polit. Psychology vol. 5 621
   4. 2006

      > Long before Darwin, Hume similarly zoomorphised the human power of empirical reasoning.

      Guardian 16 May (G2 section) 25/3
   animals
   1. zoomorphize 1940–
      transitive. To make zoomorphic; to attribute an animal form or nature to.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈmɔːfʌɪz/
zoo-uh-MOR-fighz
/ˌzəʊəˈmɔːfʌɪz/
zoh-uh-MOR-fighz

### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈmɔrˌfaɪz/
zoo-uh-MOR-fighz
/ˌzoʊəˈmɔrˌfaɪz/
zoh-uh-MOR-fighz

####

##### 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

1. 1900s–
   zoomorphise, zoomorphize

## Frequency

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

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

### Frequency of zoomorphize, v., 1940–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1940 | 0.0016
1950 | 0.0013
1960 | 0.0012
1970 | 0.001
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0004
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0002

zoomorphize, v. was revised in June 2017.

zoomorphize, v. was last modified in July 2023.