Zuricher, n.

zuricher
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zuricher_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1993; not fully revised

# Zurichernoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zuricher mean?

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

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1770 | 0.017
1780 | 0.014
1790 | 0.014
1800 | 0.025
1810 | 0.073
1820 | 0.098
1830 | 0.1
1840 | 0.11
1850 | 0.11
1860 | 0.11
1870 | 0.1
1880 | 0.058
1890 | 0.034
1900 | 0.031
1910 | 0.022
1920 | 0.022
1930 | 0.022
1940 | 0.018
1950 | 0.018
1960 | 0.019
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.016
2010 | 0.015

### How is the noun Zuricher pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈz(j)ʊərɪkə/
/ˈtsjʊərɪxə/

### Where does the noun Zuricher come from?

Earliest known use

late 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun Zuricher is in the late 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zuricher is from 1673, in the writing of John Ray, naturalist and theologian.

Zuricher is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German Züricher.

### Nearby entries

1. Zulu hat, n. 1879–
2. Zuluize, v. 1852–
3. Zulu time, n. 1959–
4. zumbador, n. 1758–64
5. zumbi, n. 1704–
6. zumboorukchee, n. 1840–
7. Zuñi, n. 1834–
8. zunyite, n. 1885–
9. zuppa, n. 1961–
10. Zurich, n. 1870–
11. Zuricher, n.1673–
12. zurla, n. 1940–
13. zurlite, n. 1826–
14. zurna, n. 1870–
15. zurr, n. 1803–
16. zussmanite, n. 1965–
17. zut, int. 1915–
18. zuur-veldt, n. 1785–
19. zuz, n. 1688–
20. zwanziger, n. 1828–
21. Zweig, n. 1973–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German Züricher.
< German Züricher, or < Zurich n. + ‑er suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. 1673–
   A native or inhabitant of Zurich.
   1. 1673

      > The Zurichers..are now much given to merchandise and to accumulate riches.

      J. Ray, Observations Journey Low-countries 433
   2. 1845

      > The matters in dispute were submitted to arbitration... As might have been foreseen, the award was much to the disadvantage of the Zurichers.

      Encyclopædia Metropolitana vol. XIII. 208/2
   3. 1990

      > This priggish, patronizing Zuricher was the last straw. Who did he think he was, coming over here and going on as though poverty was something romantic and valuable?

      M. Dibdin, Vendetta 183
   1. Rhaetian 1555–
      A native or inhabitant of Rhaetia, in eastern and central Switzerland, or the region of the Alps corresponding to this.
   2. Genevese 1650–
      A native of Geneva. Cf. Genevan, n.
   3. Allobroges 1652–
      The natives or inhabitants of the region formerly occupied by this people, considered collectively; spec. Savoyards, or inhabitants of Geneva…
   4. Genevois 1673–
      A native or inhabitant of Geneva; (also with plural agreement) Genevese people collectively; = Genevese, n.
   5. Zuricher 1673–
      A native or inhabitant of Zurich.
   6. Bernois 1687–1832
      = Bernese, n.
   7. Valaisan 1776–
      A native or inhabitant of Valais.
   8. Bernese 1806–
      A native or inhabitant of Bern(e); also collective as plural.
   9. Valaisian 1863–
      = Valaisan, n. & adj.
   10. Ticinese 1961–
       The natives or inhabitants of Ticino, an Italian-speaking canton in southern Switzerland.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈz(j)ʊərɪkə/
/ˈtsjʊərɪxə/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

Zuricher typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

Zuricher is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 Zuricher, n., 1770–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1770 | 0.017
1780 | 0.014
1790 | 0.014
1800 | 0.025
1810 | 0.073
1820 | 0.098
1830 | 0.1
1840 | 0.11
1850 | 0.11
1860 | 0.11
1870 | 0.1
1880 | 0.058
1890 | 0.034
1900 | 0.031
1910 | 0.022
1920 | 0.022
1930 | 0.022
1940 | 0.018
1950 | 0.018
1960 | 0.019
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.016
2010 | 0.015

Zuricher, n. was first published in 1993; not fully revised.

Zuricher, n. was last modified in December 2024.