<Arabicsaʿtar, ṣaʿtar, zaʿtar wild thyme, also a condiment made from this herb or similar herbs (see definition), probably <Syriacṣatrā' (Aramaicṣatrā'; >post-biblical Hebrewṣatrāh savory, in…
<Arabicsaʿtar, ṣaʿtar, zaʿtar wild thyme, also a condiment made from this herb or similar herbs (see definition), probably <Syriacṣatrā' (Aramaicṣatrā'; >post-biblical Hebrewṣatrāh savory, in modern Hebrew also satureia, thymbra). Compare Turkishzatar (probably <Arabic; the indigenous Turkish word for ‘thyme’ is kekik).
Notes
The α forms reflect various transliterations of the medial Arabic letter ʿain. The β forms reflect the Arabic variant with initial sīn. The origin of the γ forms is uncertain.
Meaning & use
1.
1917–
Originally in the Middle East: any of a number of aromatic culinary herbs.
The precise herb referred to is variously identified as thyme, oregano, marjoram, hyssop, or savory.
1917
The Samaritans use a bunch of the common za'atar, or Origanum Maru, in their Passover rites, and hold it is identical with the biblical hyssop.
Jewish Quarterly Reviewvol. 8 49
1927
The channel is from twenty to twenty-five meters wide and..is covered with a coarse gravel in which grows za'tar.
A. Musil, Arabia Deserta viii. 243
1979
Other fresh or dried herbs take their place with spices to enliven foods: green parsley or green coriander leaves, oregano, basil, grey verbena and za'atar, a much-used herb similar in aroma and flavour to thyme and oregano.
T. Barer-Stein, You eat what you Are xxxvi. 417
1996
Take a look over here, the zatar you planted is still here!
M. Gorkin & R. Othman, Three Mothers, Three Daughters (2000) 153
2008
Delia's dad grows the restaurant's zaatar in his backyard.
Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 30 September (Epicure section) 4
In Middle Eastern cuisine: a condiment made from any of these herbs (esp. thyme) singly or in combination, with dried sumac, toasted sesame seeds and salt.
1963
The breakfast meal was fairly uniform and generally conformed to one of the following patterns:..Bread, tea, olives and/or zaatar and oil.
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Nutrition Surv. Apr.–June 1962 (U.S. Interdepartmental Comm. Nutrition for National Def.) 56
1986
Pick up some zaatar, a mixture of wild thyme, sesame, and sumac..; its faint lemon flavor is wonderful on bread, poultry, lamb, pizza.
New York Magazine 21 April 76/3
1999
At home we make our own instant version by mixing za'atar with a little olive oil to make a paste which is delicious spread on toast.
G. Malouf & L. Malouf, Artichoke to Za'atar (2008) 293
2006
Some recipes for zaatar also include oregano, marjoram, savory, and salt. It is a staple of modern Middle Eastern kitchens.
A. F. Chiffolo & R. W. Hesse, Cooking with Bible 316
Australian. A yellow-orange mixture containing salt and various herbs, spices, and other flavourings, typically used as a seasoning for hot fried… A proprietary name in the United Kingdom.
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.
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.
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
α.
1900s–
zaatar, za'atar, zahatar, zahtar, zatar
β.
1900s–
satar
γ.
1900s–
zaktar
Frequency
zaatar typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zaatar 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 zaatar, 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
0.0002
1960
0.0003
1970
0.0007
1980
0.0009
1990
0.0011
2000
0.0013
2010
0.0017
Frequency of zaatar, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.