zoo

zoo

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Asunción Mixtepec Zapotec.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Asunción Mixtepec Zapotec terms

Clipping of zoological garden or zoological park, now the usual form. See zoology. Sense 5: clipping of zoophile or zoophilia.

• IPA^(key): /zuː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

zoo (plural zoos)

1. A park where live animals are exhibited.

   The London Zoo was built in 1828.

   • 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.

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) Clipping of 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; […]

   1. (by extension, uncountable) Pornographic material depicting actual animals or bestiality.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈzoː]

zoo m (plural zoos)

1. clipping of zoològic
   • 2016 November 9, “'Midnight Cowboy'”, in El Periódico‎^[1]:

     O sigui, els sorolls del zoo de demòcrates i republicans.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “zoo”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• IPA^(key): [ˈzoo]

zoo f or n

1. zoo

   Synonym: zoologická zahrada

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

• “zoo”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “zoo”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “zoo”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

From English zoo.

zoo c (singular definite zooen, plural indefinite zooer)

1. a zoo, zoological garden

• zoologisk have

• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /zoː/
• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /zuː/, /zoː/
• Hyphenation: zoo
• Rhymes: -oː

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

zoo m (plural zoos, diminutive zootje n)

1. (chiefly Belgium) zoo

• dierentuin, diergaarde

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

zoo

1. archaic spelling of zo

Clipping of zoologia ĝardeno.

• IPA^(key): /ˈzoo/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oo
• Hyphenation: zo‧o

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

1. (zoology) zoo

• bestoĝardeno

• IPA^(key): /zo/, /zo.o/

• Audio:

  (file)

zoo m (plural zoos)

1. zoo

• zoologique

• “zoo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

zoo

1. first-person singular present indicative of zoar

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

zoo m (invariable)

1. zoo

• giardino zoologico

From English zoo.

• IPA^(key): /zu/
• Rhymes: -zu, -u

zoo (Jawi spelling زو, plural zoo-zoo)

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^[2]:

     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.

• kebun binatang
• taman haiwan

Unadapted borrowing from English zoo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɔ.ɔ/, (colloquial) /ˈzɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɔ, -ɔ
• Syllabification: zo‧o, zoo

zoo n (indeclinable)

1. (zoology) nature preserve, zoo, zoological garden, zoological park

   Synonyms: ogród zoologiczny, zoolog, zwierzyniec

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

• zôo (Brazil, superseded)

• Rhymes: -u, -ou

zoo m (plural zoos)

1. clipping of jardim zoológico

   Synonym: (Brazil) zoológico

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• Rhymes: -ou
• Hyphenation: zo‧o

zoo

1. first-person singular present indicative of zoar

Borrowed from French zoo.

zoo n (uncountable)

1. zoo

• IPA^(key): /ˈθoo/ [ˈθo.o] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈsoo/ [ˈso.o] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -oo
• Syllabification: zo‧o

zoo m (plural zoos)

1. zoo

• “zoo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

• IPA^(key): /suː/
• Homophone: so

zoo n

1. a zoo

   Synonym: djurpark

   Det fanns exotiska djur på zoot

   There were exotic animals at the zoo

• zoo-

• menageri

• zoo in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• zoo in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• zoo in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *-ʔrɔŋH (“good”), possibly borrowed from Old Chinese 良 (*raŋ, “good”).^[1] Cognate with Iu Mien longx.

• IPA^(key): /ʐɒ̃˧/

zoo

1. good, fair, fine, well

• Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎^[3], SEAP Publications, →ISBN.

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,

• 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