zebunoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zebu mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zebu. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zebu?
| 1770 | 0.06 |
| 1780 | 0.05 |
| 1790 | 0.048 |
| 1800 | 0.044 |
| 1810 | 0.043 |
| 1820 | 0.037 |
| 1830 | 0.025 |
| 1840 | 0.024 |
| 1850 | 0.027 |
| 1860 | 0.026 |
| 1870 | 0.028 |
| 1880 | 0.034 |
| 1890 | 0.039 |
| 1900 | 0.046 |
| 1910 | 0.051 |
| 1920 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 0.069 |
| 1940 | 0.077 |
| 1950 | 0.077 |
| 1960 | 0.077 |
| 1970 | 0.074 |
| 1980 | 0.072 |
| 1990 | 0.069 |
| 2000 | 0.063 |
| 2010 | 0.056 |
How is the noun zebu pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zebu come from?
Earliest known use
late 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zebu is in the late 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zebu is from 1771, in the writing of Thomas Pennant, naturalist, traveller, and writer.
zebu is a borrowing from French.
Etymons: French zébu.
Nearby entries
- zebra spider, n.1806–
- zebra suit, n.1853–
- zebra swallowtail, n.1855–
- zebra wolf, n.1808–
- zebrawood, n.1768–
- zebra woodpecker, n.1884–
- zebrina, n.1846–
- zebrine, adj.a1810–
- zebroid, adj. & n.1881–
- zebrule, n.1899–
- zebu, n.1771–
- zecchino, n.1572–
- Zechstein, n.1798–
- zed, n.c1175–
- zedbed, n.1954–
- zedoary, n.Old English–
- zedonk, n.1961–
- zee, n.1580–
- Zeelander, n.c1400–
- Zeelandic, adj.1802–
- Zeelandish, adj.1593–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1771–A type of domestic cattle characterized by a shoulder hump and a large dewlap, domesticated in South Asia, reaching North Africa at an early date, and now widely bred in tropical countries; an animal of this type.Now usually regarded as constituting the subspecies Bos taurus indicus, and comprising many breeds, including the Brahman.
- 1771
M. de Buffon imagines his Zebu..to be Belon's.
T. Pennant, Synopsis of Quadrupeds 9 - 1785
He gives us the measurements of a Zebu..as taken by himself.
T. Jefferson, Notes Virginia vi. 97 - 1847
The zebu race is not confined to India, China, and the Indian islands, but is found on the eastern coast of Africa, and in..Madagascar.
W. C. L. Martin, Ox 19/1 - 1870
The cattle of the island belong to the same species as the zebu or Indian ox.
Proceedings of Royal Geographical Society vol. 14 362 - 1903
He bred a female hybrid from a zebu bull and a gayal cow.
Times 9 January 5/2 - 1942
The zebu withstands both rainy and dry seasons well.
National Geographic Magazine June 805 (caption) - 2015
Zebu tend to be farmed in the tropics, thanks to adaptations that allow them to survive better.
B. Shapiro, How to clone Mammoth v. 101
the world animals mammals group Ungulata (hoofed) group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) subfamily Bovinae (bovine) [nouns] genus Bos bos indicus or zebu- zebu1771–A type of domestic cattle characterized by a shoulder hump and a large dewlap, domesticated in South Asia, reaching North Africa at an early date…
- Brahminy1803–Designating the zebu or Brahman ox. Cf. Brahmin, n. compounds C.2.
- Brahmin1829–As a modifier (now usually in the form Brahman), designating a type or subspecies of ox with a shoulder hump and a large dewlap, Bos taurus indicus…
- Brahmin1859–Now usually in form Brahman. A bovine animal of the Brahman breed (see compounds C.2), or of the zebu type from which it is derived.
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
Inflections
Frequency
zebu typically occurs about 0.07 times per million words in modern written English.
zebu 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 of zebu, 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 | 0.06 |
| 1780 | 0.05 |
| 1790 | 0.048 |
| 1800 | 0.044 |
| 1810 | 0.043 |
| 1820 | 0.037 |
| 1830 | 0.025 |
| 1840 | 0.024 |
| 1850 | 0.027 |
| 1860 | 0.026 |
| 1870 | 0.028 |
| 1880 | 0.034 |
| 1890 | 0.039 |
| 1900 | 0.046 |
| 1910 | 0.051 |
| 1920 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 0.069 |
| 1940 | 0.077 |
| 1950 | 0.077 |
| 1960 | 0.077 |
| 1970 | 0.074 |
| 1980 | 0.072 |
| 1990 | 0.069 |
| 2000 | 0.063 |
| 2010 | 0.056 |
Frequency of zebu, 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 | 0.009 |
| 2018 | 0.0084 |
| 2019 | 0.0084 |
| 2020 | 0.0097 |
| 2021 | 0.0094 |
| 2022 | 0.0071 |
| 2023 | 0.0073 |
| 2024 | 0.0068 |