zeta potential, n.

zeta-potential
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeta-potential_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeta potentialnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zeta potential mean?

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

### How common is the noun zeta potential?

About 0.1occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.033
1930 | 0.047
1940 | 0.054
1950 | 0.072
1960 | 0.09
1970 | 0.11
1980 | 0.12
1990 | 0.14
2000 | 0.15
2010 | 0.16

### Where does the noun zeta potential come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zeta potential is from 1927, in Journal Chem. Education.

### Nearby entries

1. zester, n. 1963–
2. zestful, adj. 1797–
3. zestfully, adv. 1843–
4. zestiness, n. 1912–
5. zesty, adj. 1826–
6. zeta, n.¹?a1425–
7. zeta, n.² 1706–1860
8. zetacism, n. 1860–
9. zeta function, n. 1879–
10. zeta-ic, adj. 1840–1927
11. zeta potential, n.1927–
12. zetetic, adj. & n. 1645–
13. zetetical, adj. & n. 1646–
14. zetetically, adv. 1665–
15. Zetetical Society, n. 1881–
16. zetetics, n. 1843–
17. Zetland, n. 1577–
18. Zetlander, n. 1614–
19. Zetlandic, adj. 1701–
20. zetta-, comb. form
21. Zeuglodon, n. 1839–

## Meaning & use

Physical Chemistry.

1. 1927–
   Electrokinetic potential, esp. (in a colloid) the electrokinetic potential at the interface between the dispersion medium and the layer of charged fluid particles surrounding a dispersed colloidal particle; cf. electrokinetic potential n. (b).
   1. 1927

      > David Reuben Briggs, ‘The determination of the zeta-potential on cellulose, a method’.

      Journal Chem. Education vol. 4 1310 (title)
   2. 1982

      > They [sc. electrokinetic phenomena] arise whenever there is relative motion between a charged interface and a liquid and are usually interpreted in terms of the zeta potential.

      Nature 21 January 267/2
   3. 2011

      > The zeta potential of apatites has thus been and still is considered to play a major role in the adsorption process.

      C. Rey et al. in P. Ducheyne et al., Comprehensive Biomaterials vol. I. 208/2
   chemistry
   1. electrokinetic potential 1911–
      a. Physics rare potential energy associated with moving charged particles; b. Physical Chemistry the electric potential at the interface between a…
   2. zeta potential 1927–
      Electrokinetic potential, esp. (in a colloid) the electrokinetic potential at the interface between the dispersion medium and the layer of charged…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zeta potential typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.

zeta potential is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 zeta potential, n., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.033
1930 | 0.047
1940 | 0.054
1950 | 0.072
1960 | 0.09
1970 | 0.11
1980 | 0.12
1990 | 0.14
2000 | 0.15
2010 | 0.16

### Frequency of zeta potential, 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.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.0073
2018 | 0.017
2019 | 0.031
2020 | 0.049
2021 | 0.067
2022 | 0.095
2023 | 0.11
2024 | 0.11

Originally published as part of the entry for zeta, n.¹

zeta, n.¹ was revised in June 2018.