zinc

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Zink,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} of uncertain origin.^[2][8][9][7] Most etymologists relate it to Zinke (“prong, point, spike”),^{[3][4][5][6][10]} from Middle High German zinke, from Old High German zinko,^[6][5] which is akin to zint (“point, jag”);^[5][3][10] the metal would be named from the jagged or spiky shape it takes in the furnace or after cooling.^{[6][10][4][11]} Etymonline traces the Germanic base to Proto-Indo-European *denk- (“to bite”),^[3] Partridge compares Zahn (“tooth”),^[12] and Klein lists the cognates Old Norse tindr (“point, top, summit”) and Old English tind (“prong, spike”), related to tine.^[10][3] Skeat, on the other hand, thought it perhaps allied to Zinn (“tin”).^[13] The German word is said to have been used first by Paracelsus, about 1526,^[3][14] and is the source of late 17th-century French zinc, Swedish zink, Danish zink and New Latin zincum.^[2] The English spelling with -c (1813) follows the French.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The bluish-white metal: 1651, as zinke, in J. French's Art of Distillation.^[2][4] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1635–45.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The metal's name has kept its meaning; later senses are uses of the metal.^[2][8] From the 1870s zinc was a zinc plate in a voltaic battery (1876), and in South Africa and the West Indies galvanized iron, especially for roofs (1873).^[2][8] After French usage, the zinc was the zinc-covered bar of a café, and by extension a café (1914).^[2][8] The verb, to coat with zinc, is recorded from 1841 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, but only from 1843 in the OED.^[4][5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1526 – German Zink, said to be first used by Paracelsus.^[3]
• 1651 – zinke, the metal.^[2][4]
• 1813 – the spelling zinc.^[4][3]
• 1841 – verb, to coat with zinc (1843 in the OED).^[4][5][2]
• 1873 – galvanized iron (South Africa, West Indies).^[2]
• 1876 – a zinc plate in a battery.^[2]
• 1914 – the zinc-covered bar of a café.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bluish-white metallic element (symbol Zn), brittle at ordinary temperatures, used to galvanize iron, in alloys such as brass, and in batteries.^[15][5][2]
2. (chiefly South Africa and the West Indies) Galvanized iron, especially as roofing.^[2][8]
3. The zinc-covered bar of a café; by extension, a café.^[2][8]

Verb

1. To coat or treat with zinc; to galvanize: The fence posts were zinced against rust.^[5][2]

Word family

• zincky
• zincoid
• zincate
• zincic
• zinciferous
• zincify
• zincite
• zincography

Related words

• zincous
• tine

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins