zirconic, adj.

zirconic
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zirconic_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zirconicadjective

## Earlier version

- zirconic, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zirconic mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zirconic?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.0009
1840 | 0.0015
1850 | 0.0023
1860 | 0.0027
1870 | 0.0028
1880 | 0.0029
1890 | 0.0034
1900 | 0.0031
1910 | 0.0029
1920 | 0.0024
1930 | 0.0018
1940 | 0.0017
1950 | 0.0015
1960 | 0.0012
1970 | 0.001
1980 | 0.0007
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

### How is the adjective zirconic pronounced?

#### British English

/zəːˈkɒnɪk/
zur-KON-ik
/zəˈkɒnɪk/
zuh-KON-ik

#### U.S. English

/zərˈkɑnɪk/
zuhr-KAH-nick

### Where does the adjective zirconic come from?

Earliest known use

1800s

The earliest known use of the adjective zirconic is in the 1800s.

OED's earliest evidence for zirconic is from 1804, in Edinburgh Review.

zirconic is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zircon n., ‑ic suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. ziram, n. 1950–
2. zirbal, adj.?a1425–
3. zirbus, n. a1400–
4. zircaloy, n. 1953–
5. zircon, n. 1794–
6. zirconate, n. 1820–
7. zircon blue, n. & adj. 1928–
8. zircon earth, n. 1794–
9. zirconia, n. 1794–
10. zirconian, adj. 1802–
11. zirconic, adj.1804–
12. zirconite, n. 1806–
13. zirconitic, adj. 1883–
14. zirconium, n. 1808–
15. zircon-like, adj. 1857–
16. zircono-, comb. form
17. zirconolite, n. 1957–
18. zircon-syenite, n. 1813–
19. zirconyl, n. 1887–
20. zirkelite, n. 1895–
21. zit, n. 1912–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zircon n., ‑ic suffix.
< zircon n. + ‑ic suffix.

Compare slightly earlier zirconian adj.…
< zircon n. + ‑ic suffix.

Compare slightly earlier zirconian adj.

### Notes

Compare French zirconique (1802 as circonique).

## Meaning & use

Chiefly Chemistry.

1. 1804–
   Of or relating to zirconium; (occasionally) of or relating to zircon.
   zirconic acid noun an oxide or hydroxide of zirconium which forms zirconates by combination with bases; esp. zirconyl hydroxide, ZrO(OH)2.
   1. 1804

      > After the zirconic follows the silicious genus.

      Edinburgh Review January 304
   2. 1859

      > On the isomorphism of stannic acid, silicic acid, and zirconic acid (zirconia).

      London, Edinburgh, & Dublin Philosophical Magazine 4th Series vol. 18 262 (title)
   3. 1922

      > Zirconyl hydroxide ZrO(OH)2, which may be written H2ZrO3, here functions as an acid and is called zirconic acid.

      F. P. Venable, Zirconium & Compounds ii. 33
   4. 2013

      > A zirconic acid-based pretreatment produced a hydrophilic surface, which improves adhesion strength of the coating.

      Corrosion vol. 69 260/1
   chemistry minerals
   1. jargonic 1794–
      Pertaining to the mineral jargon.
   2. zirconian 1802–
      Of, relating to, or containing zircon or zirconium (cf. zirconic, adj.); (of a mineral) having a (small) proportion of a typical constituent…
   3. zirconic 1804–
      Of or relating to zirconium; (occasionally) of or relating to zircon.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. jargonic 1794–
      Pertaining to the mineral jargon.
   2. zirconian 1802–
      Of, relating to, or containing zircon or zirconium (cf. zirconic, adj.); (of a mineral) having a (small) proportion of a typical constituent…
   3. zirconic 1804–
      Of or relating to zirconium; (occasionally) of or relating to zircon.
   4. zirconitic 1883–
      Of the nature of or containing zirconite.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəːˈkɒnɪk/
zur-KON-ik
/zəˈkɒnɪk/
zuh-KON-ik

### U.S. English

/zərˈkɑnɪk/
zuhr-KAH-nick

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1800s
   circonic
2. 1800s–
   zirconic

## Frequency

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

zirconic is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zirconic, adj., 1830–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1830 | 0.0009
1840 | 0.0015
1850 | 0.0023
1860 | 0.0027
1870 | 0.0028
1880 | 0.0029
1890 | 0.0034
1900 | 0.0031
1910 | 0.0029
1920 | 0.0024
1930 | 0.0018
1940 | 0.0017
1950 | 0.0015
1960 | 0.0012
1970 | 0.001
1980 | 0.0007
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

zirconic, adj. was revised in March 2021.

zirconic, adj. was last modified in July 2023.