Zyzzyva, n.

zyzzyva
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zyzzyva_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2017

# Zyzzyvanoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zyzzyva mean?

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

### How common is the noun Zyzzyva?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0012
1970 | 0.0015
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0021
2000 | 0.0025
2010 | 0.0031

### How is the noun Zyzzyva pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪzɪvə/
ZIZ-i-vuh

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪzɪvə/
ZIZ-i-vuh

### Where does the noun Zyzzyva come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the noun Zyzzyva is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zyzzyva is from 1922, in the writing of T. L. Casey.

Zyzzyva is of unknown origin.

### Nearby entries

1. zymosis, n. 1842–
2. zymotechnic, adj. 1896–
3. zymotechnical, adj. 1900–
4. zymotechnologist, n. 1896–
5. zymotechny, n. 1860–
6. zymotic, adj. & n. 1842–
7. zymotoxic, adj. 1902–
8. zymurgy, n. 1868–
9. Zyrian, n. & adj. 1886–
10. zythum, n. 1608–
11. Zyzzyva, n.1922–
12. 0800 number, n. 1988–
13. 0898 number, n. 1988–
14. 101, adj. 1929–
15. 1471, n. 1994–
16. 17-hydroxycorticosteroid, n. 1951–
17. 1984, n. 1951–
18. 1984-ish, adj. 1959–
19. 1992, n. 1988–
20. 24-7, adv. 1985–
21. 2LO, n. 1923–

## Etymology

### Summary

Of unknown origin.
Of unknown origin…
Of unknown origin.

### Notes

Reputed to have been invented to be the last entry in alphabetical dictionaries, although evidence to support this appears to be lacking.

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. 1922–
   A genus of tropical weevils (family Curculionidae) native to South America and typically found on or near palm trees. Also (in form zyzzyva): a weevil of this genus.
   1. 1922

      > Zyzzyva... In this singular genus the body is oblong-oval, convex and clothed very densely and uniformly above with parallel, ochreous yellow scales.

      T. L. Casey, Mem. on Coleoptera vol. X. 369
   2. 1988

      > A zyzzyva is a rare yellow weevil found in Brazil.

      Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 29 September
   3. 2012

      > Her favourite word is zyzzyva, a bright red South American weevil. ‘It's the last word in the dictionary and it's fun to say and it's fun to spell.’

      Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) (Nexis) 27 March a9
   animals

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪzɪvə/
ZIZ-i-vuh

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪzɪvə/
ZIZ-i-vuh

####

##### 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

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

Zyzzyva 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 Zyzzyva, n., 1950–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0012
1970 | 0.0015
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0021
2000 | 0.0025
2010 | 0.0031

Zyzzyva, n. was first published in June 2017.

Zyzzyva, n. was last modified in July 2023.