zhuzhnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zhuzh mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zhuzh. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zhuzh?
| 2017 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0.0005 |
| 2019 | 0.0013 |
| 2020 | 0.0026 |
| 2021 | 0.0054 |
| 2022 | 0.0068 |
| 2023 | 0.008 |
| 2024 | 0.0092 |
How is the noun zhuzh pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zhuzh come from?
Earliest known use
1960s
The earliest known use of the noun zhuzh is in the 1960s.
OED's earliest evidence for zhuzh is from 1968, in a text by B. Took et al.
zhuzh is perhaps an imitative or expressive formation.
Nearby entries
- Zeuxis, n.1577–
- Zeuxis-like, adj.1665–
- zeuxite, n.1836–
- zeze, n.1860–
- Zhdanovism, n.1958–
- Zhdanovist, adj.1966–
- Zhdanovite, adj.1957–
- zho, n.1841–
- zhomo, n.1841–
- zhuyin zimu, n.1938–
- zhuzh, n.1968–
- zhuzh, v.1970–
- zhuzhy, adj.1968–
- ziamet, n.1807–
- ziarat, n.1776–
- zibeline, n.1585–
- zibet, n.1594–
- zibet-muff, n.1685
- zibib, n.1836–
- ziczac, n.1844–
- zidovudine, n.1987–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1968–Style, glamour; a stylish or glamorous appearance or effect. Also: the action or an act of making something more stylish, attractive, or exciting. Cf. zhuzh v.Originally used among gay men, apparently in Polari slang.In earliest use with the sense ‘(style of) clothing’.
- 1968
Julian. Let's have a vada at his zhush. Mr. Horne. Clothing. That's translator's note.
B. Took et al. in B. Took & M. Coward, Best of ‘Round the Horne’ (2000) 4th Ser. Episode 4. 192/1 - 1973
A zhush of georgette negligee and a pair of gold lame thigh boots are about all many of the lovelies deem necessary as equipment.
Quorum No. 8 13/2 - 1987
An elegantly dressed young man..offers another towel followed by a comb and hair dryer to put the zhoosh back into your quiff.
OutRage (Australia) October 25/3 - 1995
My image needs a bit of a zhoozh, as stylists say.
Independent (Nexis) 11 November 61 - 2019
It's a good time to think of giving your dressing table a bit of a ‘zhuzh’.
Daily Rec. & Sunday Mail (Nexis) 16 November 31
- glamorousness1911–The state or quality of being glamorous.
- glamour1915–Originally U.S. Attractiveness or desirability of appearance, esp. when extravagant, showy, or opulent.
- glam1961–Glamour; esp. glamorous, attractive, or desirable appearance.
- zhuzh1968–Style, glamour; a stylish or glamorous appearance or effect. Also: the action or an act of making something more stylish, attractive, or…
- showbiz1970–The idealized qualities characteristic of or associated with show business; glamour, glitz.
- glitziness1982–
- glamorization1926–The action or process of making a person or thing seem glamorous or desirable, esp. of making criminal activity or something destructive seem…
- zhuzh1968–Style, glamour; a stylish or glamorous appearance or effect. Also: the action or an act of making something more stylish, attractive, or…
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
- 1900s–zhoosh, zhoozh, zhush
- 2000s–zhuzh
Frequency
zhuzh typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zhuzh is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zhuzh, 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 |
| 2018 | 0.0005 |
| 2019 | 0.0013 |
| 2020 | 0.0026 |
| 2021 | 0.0054 |
| 2022 | 0.0068 |
| 2023 | 0.008 |
| 2024 | 0.0092 |
Compounds & derived words
- zhuzhy, adj. 1968–Stylish, attractive, exciting. Also sometimes…