zooecium, n.

zooecium
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooecium_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zooeciumnoun

## Earlier version

- zoœcium in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zooecium mean?

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

### How common is the noun zooecium?

About 0.06occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.12
1880 | 0.16
1890 | 0.23
1900 | 0.24
1910 | 0.24
1920 | 0.28
1930 | 0.28
1940 | 0.27
1950 | 0.23
1960 | 0.15
1970 | 0.11
1980 | 0.095
1990 | 0.053
2000 | 0.025
2010 | 0.016

### How is the noun zooecium pronounced?

#### British English

/zəʊˈiːsiəm/
zoh-EE-see-uhm
/zəʊˈiːʃ(i)əm/
zoh-EE-shee-uhm

#### U.S. English

/zoʊˈiʃ(i)əm/
zoh-EE-shee-uhm
/zoʊˈisiəm/
zoh-EE-see-uhm

### Where does the noun zooecium come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun zooecium is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for zooecium is from 1871, in Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.

zooecium is a borrowing from Latin; modelled on a Swedish lexical item.

Etymons: Latin zooecium.

### Nearby entries

1. zoochory, n. 1921–
2. zoo-crazy, adj. 1938–
3. zoocultural, adj. 1899–
4. zooculture, n. 1873–
5. zoocytium, n. 1880–
6. zoodendrium, n. 1880–
7. Zoodikers, int. 1749–98
8. zoodynamic, adj.?1819–
9. zoodynamics, n. 1888–
10. zooecial, adj. 1873–
11. zooecium, n.1871–
12. zooerythrin, n. 1871–
13. zooflagellate, n. & adj. 1911–
14. zooful, n. 1914–
15. zoofulvin, n. 1871–
16. zoogamete, n. 1879–
17. zoogene, n. 1820–69
18. zoogenic, adj. 1842–
19. zoogeny, n. 1826–
20. zoogeographer, n. 1868–
21. zoogeographic, adj. 1875–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin; modelled on a Swedish lexical item.
Etymon: Latin zooecium.
< scientific Latin zooecium (F. A. Smitt 1865, in Öfversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar vol. 22 115; < post-classical Latin zoo- zoo- comb. form + ‑oecium (in e.g. scientific Latin androecium…
< scientific Latin zooecium (F. A. Smitt 1865, in Öfversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar vol. 22 115; < post-classical Latin zoo- zoo- comb. form + ‑oecium (in e.g. scientific Latin androecium androecium n.), after Swedish djurhus, lit. ‘animal house’ (1865 in this sense: F. A. Smitt, in Öfversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar vol. 22 5).

Compare French zoécie (1868 or earlier), German Zoöcium (1869 or earlier).

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. 1871–
   A layer of organic or mineral material that encloses an individual living or fossil bryozoan.
   1. 1871

      > The production of new polypides and eggs in empty zoœcia.

      Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science vol. 11 156
   2. 1893

      > In addition he found giant cells (cistern cells) of form quite dissimilar from the ordinary zooecia.

      American Naturalist vol. 27 1002
   3. 1927

      > The fertile zooecium then develops into an ovicell, which serves as a brood chamber for the developing embryos.

      Quarterly Review of Biology vol. 2 402/2
   4. 1980

      > The basal part of the gut, or caecum, is attached to the zooecium by a strand of tissue, the funiculus.

      W. D. Williams, Australian Freshwater Life v. 73
   5. 2010

      > The zooecia are well preserved.

      Journal of Paleontology vol. 84 358/1
   invertebrates
   1. zooecium 1871–
      A layer of organic or mineral material that encloses an individual living or fossil bryozoan.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəʊˈiːsiəm/
zoh-EE-see-uhm
/zəʊˈiːʃ(i)əm/
zoh-EE-shee-uhm
/zuːˈiːsiəm/
zoo-EE-see-uhm
/zuːˈiːʃ(i)əm/
zoo-EE-shee-uhm

### U.S. English

/zoʊˈiʃ(i)əm/
zoh-EE-shee-uhm
/zoʊˈisiəm/
zoh-EE-see-uhm
/zuˈiʃ(i)əm/
zoo-EE-shee-uhm
/zuˈisiəm/
zoo-EE-see-uhm

###
Plural: zooecia

### British English

/zəʊˈiːsiə/
zoh-EE-see-uh
/zəʊˈiːʃ(i)ə/
zoh-EE-shee-uh
/zuːˈiːsiə/
zoo-EE-see-uh
/zuːˈiːʃ(i)ə/
zoo-EE-shee-uh

### U.S. English

/zoʊˈiʃ(i)ə/
zoh-EE-shee-uh
/zoʊˈisiə/
zoh-EE-see-uh
/zuˈiʃ(i)ə/
zoo-EE-shee-uh
/zuˈisiə/
zoo-EE-see-uh

####

##### 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

### Inflections

Plural: zooecia ( British English /zəʊˈiːsiə/ (zoh-EE-see-uh) , /zəʊˈiːʃ(i)ə/ (zoh-EE-shee-uh) , /zuːˈiːsiə/ (zoo-EE-see-uh) , /zuːˈiːʃ(i)ə/ (zoo-EE-shee-uh) , U.S. English /zoʊˈiʃ(i)ə/ (zoh-EE-shee-uh) , /zoʊˈisiə/ (zoh-EE-see-uh) , /zuˈiʃ(i)ə/ (zoo-EE-shee-uh) , /zuˈisiə/ (zoo-EE-see-uh) )

### Variant forms

1. 1800s–
   zooecium, zoœcium

## Frequency

zooecium typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.

zooecium 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 zooecium, n., 1870–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1870 | 0.12
1880 | 0.16
1890 | 0.23
1900 | 0.24
1910 | 0.24
1920 | 0.28
1930 | 0.28
1940 | 0.27
1950 | 0.23
1960 | 0.15
1970 | 0.11
1980 | 0.095
1990 | 0.053
2000 | 0.025
2010 | 0.016

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zooecial, adj. 1873–
   Of or relating to a zooecium or zooecia.

1. heterozooecium, n. 1909–
   = heterozooid, n.

zooecium, n. was revised in June 2017.

zooecium, n. was last modified in September 2024.