zubr, n.

zubr
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zubr_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zubrnoun

## Earlier version

- zubr in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zubr mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zubr. 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 zubr?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1820 | 0.0056
1830 | 0.0045
1840 | 0.0037
1850 | 0.0033
1860 | 0.0032
1870 | 0.0032
1880 | 0.0015
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0008
1910 | 0.0009
1920 | 0.0008
1930 | 0.0006
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0005
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0004

### How is the noun zubr pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːbr/

### Where does the noun zubr come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zubr is in the mid 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zubr is from 1763, in the writing of John Bell, diplomatist and traveller.

zubr is a borrowing from Russian.

### Nearby entries

1. zosterops, n. 1867–
2. Zouave, n. 1848–
3. zouk, n. 1986–
4. zounds, v. 1680
5. zounds, int. a1593–
6. Zou-Zou, n. 1860–
7. zowie, int. 1902–
8. zoysia, n. 1965–
9. ZPG, n. 1970–
10. Zr, n. 1814–
11. zubr, n.1763–
12. zubrowka, n. 1916–
13. zucarine, adj. a1425
14. zucca, n. 1818–
15. zucchetto, n. 1853–
16. zucchini, n. 1916–
17. zuche, n. 1358–1676
18. Zuckerkandl, n. 1910–
19. zufolo, n. 1724–
20. zug, n. 1899–
21. zugtrompete, n. 1978–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Russian.
Russian See Columna lui Traian (1875) 97 ff.

## Meaning & use

1. 1763–
   The European bison or aurochs, Bos bonasus.
   1. 1763

      > The stags are of two kinds; one called zuber, the same with the German crownhirsh, but somewhat larger.

      J. Bell, Travels from St. Petersburg vol. I. 294
   2. 1847

      > He who kills a zubr without permission of the Russian government, has to pay as a fine 2000 rubles.

      W. C. L. Martin, Ox 8/1
   3. 1882

      > A confused account of two distinct animals, the Aurochs or Zubr of Lithuania, and the extinct Urus which Charlemagne is said to have hunted.

      C. Elton, Origins of English History 59
   animals
   1. bison a1398–
      Either of two large wild bovids constituting the genus Bison, characterized by a high shoulder hump… In later use more fully European bison. The…
   2. bonasus 1572–
      A genus (or species) of the ox family (Bovidæ): the bison, n. See also aurochs, n.
   3. zubr 1763–
      The European bison or aurochs, Bos bonasus.
   4. aurochs 1768–
      Historically and properly, the name of an extinct species of Wild Ox (Bos Urus Owen, B. primigenius Boj.), described by Cæsar as Urus, which formerly…
   5. urochs 1839–
      (See quots.)
   6. wisent 1866–
      The aurochs.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːbr/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also 1700s zuber.

## Frequency

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

zubr 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 zubr, n., 1820–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1820 | 0.0056
1830 | 0.0045
1840 | 0.0037
1850 | 0.0033
1860 | 0.0032
1870 | 0.0032
1880 | 0.0015
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0008
1910 | 0.0009
1920 | 0.0008
1930 | 0.0006
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0005
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0004

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

zubr, n. was last modified in December 2024.