zoo

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See also: Zoo, zôo, zōo, zoo-, -zoo, and zoö-

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A painting of the London Zoo in 1835.

Etymology

Clipping of zoological garden or zoological park, now the usual form. See zoology.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /zuː/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -uː

Noun

zoo (plural zoos)

  1. A park where live animals are exhibited.
    The London Zoo was built in 1828.
  2. (informal, figuratively) Any place that is wild, crowded, or chaotic.
    The shopping center was a zoo the week before Christmas.
  3. (informal, figuratively) A large and varied collection of something.
    • 1993, Neil P. Hurley, Soul in Suspense: Hitchcock's Fright and Delight, page xii:
      After his insightful book The Art of Alfred Hitchcock, Spoto published The Dark Side of Genius, a portrayal of the elderly director as a lonely man who was a veritable zoo of desires, suspicions, fears, and addictions (food, drink, romantic infatuation, and filmmaking).
    • 2001, Antonino Zichichi, Theory and Experiment Heading for New Physics:
      From this point on, an entire zoo of possibilities arose: strange stars, different families of neutron stars, hybrid stars, etc.
    • 2021, Michio Kaku, The God Equation:
      But powerful as the quark model and the electroweak theory were in describing the zoo of subatomic particles, this still left a huge gap.
  4. (US, military, slang) The jungle.
    • 2013, E. E. "Doc" Murdock, My Vietnam War (page 152)
      I'm not all that unhappy about being out on an actual patrol, but there's a worried feeling wandering around the back of my mind, not exactly fear, more like a sort of lurking anxiety at being out in the dreaded jungle, the zoo, where the enemy hides.
  5. (slang) A zoophile.
    • 2013, Mark Hawthorne, Bleating Hearts: The Hidden World of Animal Suffering:
      Zoophiles, or 'zoos,' are sexually and emotionally attracted to animals, as in a sexual orientation.
    • 2016, Jessica Pierce, Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets, page 129:
      Bestiality or zoophilia—whatever we decide to call it—is one of the most pressing issues for all domesticated animals, […] From the scanty research available, the following picture emerges: the majority of zoos are male, though certainly not all; […]

Derived terms

Related terms

Related terms

Translations

Catalan

Pronunciation

Noun

zoo m (plural zoos)

  1. Clipping of zoològic.
    • 2016 November 9, “'Midnight Cowboy'”, in El Periódico‎:
      O sigui, els sorolls del zoo de demòcrates i republicans.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

Czech

Pronunciation

Noun

zoo f or n

  1. zoo
    Synonym: zoologická zahrada

Declension

Normally indeclinable. When neuter, can be declined as follows, although it is dated:

Declension of zoo (hard neuter)
singular plural
nominative zoo zoa
genitive zoa zo
dative zou zoům
accusative zoo zoa
vocative zoo zoa
locative zou zoech
instrumental zoem zoy

Further reading

  • zoo in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • zoo in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
  • zoo in Internetová jazyková příručka

Danish

Etymology

From English zoo.

Noun

zoo c (singular definite zooen, plural indefinite zooer)

  1. a zoo, zoological garden

Synonyms

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Probably a borrowing from French zoo. Equivalent to a shortening of zoölogische tuin.

Noun

zoo m (plural zoos, diminutive zootje n)

  1. (chiefly Belgium) zoo
Synonyms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adverb

zoo

  1. Archaic spelling of zo.

Esperanto

Esperanto Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia eo

Etymology

Clipping of zoologia ĝardeno.

Pronunciation

Noun

zoo (accusative singular zoon, plural zooj, accusative plural zoojn)

  1. (zoology) zoo

Synonyms

French

Pronunciation

Noun

zoo m (plural zoos)

  1. zoo

Related terms

Further reading

Galician

Verb

zoo

  1. first-person singular present indicative of zoar

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): */ˈd͡zɔ.o/
    • Rhymes: -ɔo
    • Hyphenation: zò‧o
  • (especially Rome) IPA(key): */ˈd͡zɔ/*

Noun

zoo m (invariable)

  1. zoo

Related terms

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Etymology

From English zoo.

Pronunciation

Noun

zoo (Jawi spelling زو, plural zoo-zoo, informal 1st possessive zooku, 2nd possessive zoomu, 3rd possessive zoonya)

  1. zoo (park where live animals are exhibited)
    • 2013 February 13, “Gorilla lahirkan anak di zoo Moscow [Gorilla gives birth to offspring at Moscow Zoo]”, in Astro Awani‎:
      Jurucakap zoo, Elena Mendosa memberitahu pembiakan gorilla di Zoo Moscow merupakan sesuatu yang unik dan berharap proses berkenaan akan berterusan.
      A zoo spokeswoman, Elena Mendosa said that gorilla breeding at the Moscow Zoo is something unique and hoped the process would continue.

Synonyms

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English zoo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈzɔ.ɔ/, (colloquial) /zɔ/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔɔ, -ɔ
  • Syllabification: zo‧o
  • Syllabification: zoo

Noun

zoo n (indeclinable)

  1. (zoology) nature preserve, zoo, zoological garden, zoological park
    Synonyms: ogród zoologiczny, zoolog, zwierzyniec

Derived terms

nouns

Further reading

  • zoo in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • zoo in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

 

Noun

zoo m (plural zoos)

  1. Clipping of jardim zoológico.
    Synonym: (Brazil) zoológico

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

 
 

  • Rhymes: -ou
  • Hyphenation: zo‧o

Verb

zoo

  1. first-person singular present indicative of zoar

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French zoo.

Noun

zoo n (uncountable)

  1. zoo

Declension

declension of zoo (singular only)
singular
n gender indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) zoo zooul
genitive/dative (unui) zoo zooului
vocative zooule

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Spain) /ˈθoo/
  • IPA(key): (Latin America) /ˈsoo/
  • Rhymes: -oo
  • Syllabification: zo‧o

Noun

zoo m (plural zoos)

  1. zoo

Related terms

Further reading

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

zoo n

  1. zoo

Declension

Declension of zoo 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative zoo zooet zoon zoona
Genitive zoos zooets zoons zoonas

Related terms

References

White Hmong

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *-ʔrɔŋH (“good”), possibly borrowed from Old Chinese 良 (*raŋ, “good”). Cognate with Iu Mien longx.

Pronunciation

Adjective

zoo

  1. good, fair, fine, well

Derived terms

References

  • Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎, SEAP Publications, →ISBN.
  1. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20101031002604/http://wold.livingsources.org/vocabulary/25

Yola

Interjection

zoo

  1. Alternative form of zo
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 5, page 96:
      Zoo wough aul vell a-danceen; earch bye gae a poage
      So we all fell a-dancing; each boy gave a kiss
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 96:
      Zoo wough kisth, an wough parthet; earch man took his laave;
      So we kissed and we parted, each man took his leave;
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 96:
      Zoo wough aul returnth hime, contented an gaay,
      So we all returned home, contented and gay,

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 82
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