zoo
English
Etymology
Clipping of zoological garden, and now the usual form. See also zoology.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /zuː/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -uː
Noun
zoo (plural zoos)
- A park where live animals are exhibited.
- 2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:
- The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile. Only the city zoo offers greater species diversity.
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- (figuratively) Any place that is wild, crowded, or chaotic.
- The shopping center was a zoo the week before Christmas.
- (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.
- 2013, E. E. "Doc" Murdock, My Vietnam War (page 152)
Derived terms
Translations
park where live animals are exhibited
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Catalan
Further reading
- “zoo” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Danish
Dutch
Synonyms
Esperanto
Etymology
Clipping of zoologia ĝardeno.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈzoo/
- Hyphenation: zo‧o
- Rhymes: -oo
Audio (file)
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /zo/, /zo.o/
audio (file)
Related terms
Further reading
- “zoo” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈdzɔ.o/
Related terms
- giardino zoologico
Malay
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /zu/
- Rhymes: -zu, -u
Portuguese
Spanish
Pronunciation
- (Castilian) IPA(key): /ˈθo/
- (Latin America) IPA(key): /ˈso/
Related terms
Further reading
- “zoo” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
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