zero-derived, adj.

zero-derived
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-derived_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero-derivedadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zero-derived mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zero-derived?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1970 | 0.0033
1980 | 0.0033
1990 | 0.0033
2000 | 0.0033
2010 | 0.0032

### Where does the adjective zero-derived come from?

Earliest known use

1970s

The earliest known use of the adjective zero-derived is in the 1970s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero-derived is from 1971, in Found. Language.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-based, adj. 1963–
2. zero beat, n. 1920–
3. zero-carbon, adj. 1990–
4. zero-coupon, adj. 1979–
5. zero creep, n. 1904–
6. zero crossing, n. 1941–
7. zero day, n. 1917–
8. zero-defect, adj. 1964–
9. zero derivation, n. 1960–
10. zero derivative, adj. & n. 1948–
11. zero-derived, adj.1971–
12. zero-dimensional, adj. 1880–
13. zero-emission, n. & adj. 1952–
14. zero-energy, adj. 1947–
15. zero-field, adj. 1915–
16. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
17. zero grade, n. 1888–
18. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
19. zero-graze, v. 1954–
20. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
21. zero grazing, n. 1954–

## Meaning & use

Linguistics.

1. 1971–
   (Of a word) having a form unaltered from that of the word of which it is a derivative.
   See note at zero derivation n.
   1. 1971

      > The implication of Whorf's position and similar views which deny a derivational relationship between zero-derived words and their bases are discussed by D. Kastovsky.

      Found. Language vol. 7 214
   2. 2015

      > It appears that zero-derived nouns account for a relatively small class of place nouns in present-day English.

      B. Szymanek in P. O. Müller et al., Word-formation: Handbook Languages Europe vol. II. vii. 1335
   philology
   1. zero derivative 1948–
      a. adj. Designating a derivative in which the form of the original word is not altered; that marks such a derivative; b. n. a derivative in which…
   2. zero-derived 1971–
      (Of a word) having a form unaltered from that of the word of which it is a derivative.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero-derived typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zero-derived 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 zero-derived, adj., 1970–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1970 | 0.0033
1980 | 0.0033
1990 | 0.0033
2000 | 0.0033
2010 | 0.0032

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.