zinc chloride, n.

zinc-chloride
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zinc-chloride_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zinc chloridenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zinc chloride mean?

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

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun zinc chloride?

About 0.1occurrences per million words in modern written English

1860 | 0.075
1870 | 0.14
1880 | 0.22
1890 | 0.37
1900 | 0.49
1910 | 0.57
1920 | 0.63
1930 | 0.61
1940 | 0.51
1950 | 0.4
1960 | 0.31
1970 | 0.21
1980 | 0.13
1990 | 0.095
2000 | 0.081
2010 | 0.068

### Where does the noun zinc chloride come from?

Earliest known use

1850s

The earliest known use of the noun zinc chloride is in the 1850s.

OED's earliest evidence for zinc chloride is from 1851, in a translation by Henry Watts, chemist.

### Nearby entries

1. zinc, n. 1651–
2. zinc, v. 1843–
3. zinc-air, adj. 1970–
4. Zincala, n. 1844–91
5. Zincalo, n. 1841–
6. zinc-alum, n. 1851–
7. zinc-amide, n. 1859–
8. zincate, n. 1872–
9. zinc-blende, n. 1842–
10. zinc-bloom, n. 1842–
11. zinc chloride, n.1851–
12. zinc chromate, n. 1851–
13. zinc chrome, n. 1892–
14. zinc-dust, n. 1877–
15. zinc finger, n. 1987–
16. zinc-foil, n. 1851–
17. zinc green, n. 1847–
18. zinc-grey | zinc-gray, n. 1881–
19. zincian, adj. 1930–
20. zincic, adj. 1860–
21. zinciferous, adj. 1820–

## Meaning & use

1. 1851–
   A white, crystalline, deliquescent solid, ZnCl2, used as a preservative, a flux, and in Leclanché cells.
   1. 1851

      > ZnCl, 9ZnO..[is prepared] by precipitating aqueous zinc-chloride with an insufficient quantity of ammonia and filtering immediately.

      H. Watts, translation of L. Gmelin, Hand-book of Chemistry vol. V. xxviii. 32
   2. 1911

      > Zinc chloride, ZnCl2, is produced by heating the metal in dry chlorine gas, when it distils over as a white translucent mass.

      Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XXVIII. 984/1
   3. 1981

      > Zinc chloride, which is exceptionally soluble in water.., has a range of uses that extend from embalming, to fireproofing lumber, to the refining of petroleum.

      Brady & Holum, Fund. Chemistry xx. 700
   chemistry
   1. white rust 1677–
      A white coating or discoloration produced on the surface of various metals by exposure to moist air or other corrosive agents; esp. (in early use)…
   2. zinc chloride 1851–
      A white, crystalline, deliquescent solid, ZnCl2, used as a preservative, a flux, and in Leclanché cells.
   3. zinc sulphide 1851–
      A yellow, water-insoluble powder, ZnS, used as a pigment and as a phosphor.
   4. zinc-dust 1877–
      Zinc in the form of fine powder (often mixed with zinc oxide and other impurities), obtained by grinding, or in the extraction of zinc from its…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zinc chloride typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.

zinc chloride 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 zinc chloride, n., 1860–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1860 | 0.075
1870 | 0.14
1880 | 0.22
1890 | 0.37
1900 | 0.49
1910 | 0.57
1920 | 0.63
1930 | 0.61
1940 | 0.51
1950 | 0.4
1960 | 0.31
1970 | 0.21
1980 | 0.13
1990 | 0.095
2000 | 0.081
2010 | 0.068

### Frequency of zinc chloride, 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 | 0.015
2018 | 0.018
2019 | 0.014
2020 | 0.012
2021 | 0.0088
2022 | 0.0098
2023 | 0.0057
2024 | 0.0076

Originally published as part of the entry for zinc, n.

zinc, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.