zoarium, n.

zoarium
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoarium_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zoariumnoun

## Earlier version

- zoarium in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoarium mean?

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

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun zoarium?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.058
1890 | 0.13
1900 | 0.15
1910 | 0.16
1920 | 0.16
1930 | 0.17
1940 | 0.17
1950 | 0.16
1960 | 0.097
1970 | 0.063
1980 | 0.034
1990 | 0.025
2000 | 0.02
2010 | 0.0049

### How is the noun zoarium pronounced?

#### British English

/zəʊˈɛːrɪəm/

### Where does the noun zoarium come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zoarium is in the 1880s.

OED's only evidence for zoarium is from around 1880–1, in the writing of William Saville-Kent, marine biologist.

zoarium is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. -zoan, comb. form
2. zoantharian, adj. & n. 1887–
3. zoanthid, n. 1870–
4. zoanthidan, adj. 1888–
5. zoanthodeme, n. 1877–
6. zoanthoid, adj. 1854–
7. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
8. zoanthropy, n. 1856–
9. zoanthus, n. 1841–
10. zoarial, adj. 1896–
11. zoarium, n.1880–
12. zob, n. 1911–
13. zocalo, n. 1884–
14. zocco, n. 1664–1723
15. zocle, n. 1704–
16. zoco, n. 1892–
17. zodiac, n. 1390–
18. zodiacal, adj. 1576–
19. zodiac line, n. 1590
20. zodiac ring, n. 1895–
21. zodiographer, n. 1650

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin, in form < Greek ζωάριον, diminutive of ζῷον animal, but taken as if < ζῷον + ‑arium suffix: compare polyzoary n.

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. 1880–
   The common supporting structure of a colony of polyps, or the colony or compound organism as a whole (esp. in the Polyzoa or moss-animalcules): = polyzoary n.
   1. 1880–1

      > The zoarium of the polyzoic genera Aulopora or Hippothoa.

      W. Saville-Kent, Manual of Infusoria vol. I. 338
   invertebrates
   1. zoarium 1880–
      The common supporting structure of a colony of polyps, or the colony or compound organism as a whole (esp. in the Polyzoa or moss-animalcules): = poly…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. polypary 1753–
      = polyparium, n.
   2. polypifer 1822–
      Originally: †a polyparium (obsolete). Later: a colonial organism formed of polyps; esp. a reef-forming coral.
   3. polypidom 1824–
      = polyparium, n.
   4. polyp-bearer 1846
      = polyparium, n.
   5. polyp-stem 1862–
      = polyparium, n.
   6. polyp-tree 1868–
      = polyparium, n.
   7. zoarium 1880–
      The common supporting structure of a colony of polyps, or the colony or compound organism as a whole (esp. in the Polyzoa or moss-animalcules): = poly…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəʊˈɛːrɪəm/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Plural zoaria /zəʊˈɛərɪə/ .

## Frequency

zoarium typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

zoarium 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 zoarium, n., 1880–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1880 | 0.058
1890 | 0.13
1900 | 0.15
1910 | 0.16
1920 | 0.16
1930 | 0.17
1940 | 0.17
1950 | 0.16
1960 | 0.097
1970 | 0.063
1980 | 0.034
1990 | 0.025
2000 | 0.02
2010 | 0.0049

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. Osteozoaria, n. 1856–63
   In the classifications of H. M. D. de Blainville…

1. zoarial, adj. 1896–
   Pertaining to or constituting a zoarium.

zoarium, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zoarium, n. was last modified in December 2024.