ζῷον

See also: ζωόν, and ζῶον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *ďṓyyon, from Pre-Hellenic *gʷyōwyon, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷyeh₃w-y-om, from *gʷíh₃weti (“to live”). Cognate with βίος (bíos, “life”). Compare Avestan 𐬘𐬫𐬁𐬌𐬙𐬌 (jyāⁱti), Proto-Slavic *gojь (“life”), Old Armenian կեամ (keam).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /zdɔ̂ːi̯.on/ → /ˈzo.on/ → /ˈzo.on/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /zdɔ̂ːi̯.on/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈzo.on/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈzo.on/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈzo.on/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈzo.on/

Noun

ζῷον • (zôion) n (genitive ζῴου); second declension

1. animal, beast
2. (art) form, image

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ζῷον tò zôion	τὼ ζῴω tṑ zṓiō	τᾰ̀ ζῷᾰ tà zôia
Genitive	τοῦ ζῴου toû zṓiou	τοῖν ζῴοιν toîn zṓioin	τῶν ζῴων tôn zṓiōn
Dative	τῷ ζῴῳ tôi zṓiōi	τοῖν ζῴοιν toîn zṓioin	τοῖς ζῴοις toîs zṓiois
Accusative	τὸ ζῷον tò zôion	τὼ ζῴω tṑ zṓiō	τᾰ̀ ζῷᾰ tà zôia
Vocative	ζῷον zôion	ζῴω zṓiō	ζῷᾰ zôia
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of τὸ ζῷον; τοῦ ζῴου (Attic)

Derived terms

• ζῴδῐον (zṓidion), ζῳδῐᾰκός (zōidiakós)

Related terms

• ζωή (zōḗ)
• ζῶ (zô)

Descendants

• Greek: ζώο (zóo)
• → Coptic: ⲍⲱⲟⲛ (zōon)
• → English: zoon, zoo-, zo-, -zoic
• → Russian: зоо- (zoo-)
• ⇒ Translingual: Mycetozoa (taxonomic infraphylum)

References

• “ζῷον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ζῷον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ζῷον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• G2226 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • animal idem, page 30.
  • beast idem, page 67.
  • being idem, page 72.
  • brute idem, page 102.
  • creature idem, page 183.
  • insect idem, page 444.