First published 2019
Jedinoun
Factsheet
What does the noun Jedi mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Jedi. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun Jedi?
About 0.2occurrences per million words in modern written English
| Oct.–Dec. 2017 | 1.4 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2018 | 1.2 |
| Apr.–June 2018 | 1.0 |
| July–Sept. 2018 | 0.74 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2018 | 0.55 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2019 | 0.48 |
| Apr.–June 2019 | 0.65 |
| July–Sept. 2019 | 0.65 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2019 | 0.64 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2020 | 0.56 |
| Apr.–June 2020 | 0.51 |
| July–Sept. 2020 | 0.27 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2020 | 0.24 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2021 | 0.23 |
| Apr.–June 2021 | 0.22 |
| July–Sept. 2021 | 0.22 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2021 | 0.24 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2022 | 0.23 |
| Apr.–June 2022 | 0.23 |
| July–Sept. 2022 | 0.25 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2022 | 0.26 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2023 | 0.24 |
How is the noun Jedi pronounced?
British English
/ˈdʒɛdʌɪ/
JED-igh
U.S. English
/ˈdʒɛˌdaɪ/
JED-igh
Where does the noun Jedi come from?
Earliest known use
1970s
The earliest known use of the noun Jedi is in the 1970s.
OED's earliest evidence for Jedi is from 1973, in the writing of G. Lucas.
An arbitrary formation.
Nearby entries
- jean, n.1495–
- jean-age, n.1959–
- jeaned, adj.1970–
- jeanette, n.1785–
- jebel, n.1844–
- Jebusite, n.1535–
- jecorary, adj.1684
- jectigation, n.1693–1855
- Jedburgh staff, n.1516–1680
- Jeddart justice, n.1698–
- Jedi, n.1973–
- Jedi mind trick, n.1981–
- jee, n.1829–
- jee, v.1722–
- jee, adv. & int.1786–
- jeel, n.¹a1774–
- jeel, n.²1887–
- jeel, v.1896–
- jeep, n.1941–
- jeep, v.1942–
- jeepable, adj.1944–
Etymology
Summary
An arbitrary formation.
An arbitrary formation, denoting a member of an order of heroic, skilled warrior monks in the fictional universe of the films of the Star Wars series.
Meaning & use
Contents
- 1973–In the fictional universe of the Star Wars films: a member of an order of heroic, skilled warrior monks who are able to harness the mystical power of the Force (see force n.1 Additions). Also in extended and allusive use; esp. someone (humorously) credited with great skill or preternatural powers. Also more fully Jedi knight, Jedi master.
- 1973
This is the story of Mace Windy..as related to us by C.J. Thorpe, padawaan learner to the famed Jedi.
G. Lucas, Journal of Whills (MS draft) in L. Dowling, Star Wars Year by Year (2010) 29/1 - 1983
Most [hackers], we're assured, are good Jedi knights.
Computerworld 10 October 42/3 - 1989
There are only two ways to draw that well... #1 Become a total Jedi, master your medium, and then consciously forget all you've learned.
Sewanee Purple (University of South) 25 September 11/1 - 2005
It took a real Jedi..to see that working alongside the music giants was a way to steal the lead in an important new market without getting crushed.
Wall Street Journal (Electronic edition) 23 May r4
Pronunciation
British English
/ˈdʒɛdʌɪ/
JED-igh
U.S. English
/ˈdʒɛˌdaɪ/
JED-igh
Pronunciation keys
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛtl/ but <petally> /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in <bitter>
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but <petally> /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Forms
Inflections
Plural: unchanged, Jedis
Frequency
Jedi typically occurs about 0.2 times per million words in modern written English.
Jedi is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of Jedi, n., 1970–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on a corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010. The Ngrams data has been cross-checked against frequency measures from other corpora, and re-analysed in order to handle homographs and other ambiguities.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
| Decade | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.1 |
| 1980 | 0.16 |
| 1990 | 0.2 |
| 2000 | 0.25 |
| 2010 | 0.3 |
Frequency of Jedi, n., 2017–2023
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| Oct.–Dec. 2017 | 1.4 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2018 | 1.2 |
| Apr.–June 2018 | 1.0 |
| July–Sept. 2018 | 0.74 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2018 | 0.55 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2019 | 0.48 |
| Apr.–June 2019 | 0.65 |
| July–Sept. 2019 | 0.65 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2019 | 0.64 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2020 | 0.56 |
| Apr.–June 2020 | 0.51 |
| July–Sept. 2020 | 0.27 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2020 | 0.24 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2021 | 0.23 |
| Apr.–June 2021 | 0.22 |
| July–Sept. 2021 | 0.22 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2021 | 0.24 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2022 | 0.23 |
| Apr.–June 2022 | 0.23 |
| July–Sept. 2022 | 0.25 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2022 | 0.26 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2023 | 0.24 |
Compounds & derived words
-
Jedi mind trick, n. 1981–(In the fictional universe of the Star Wars films) a telepathic technique of psychological manipulation used by the Jedi; also in extended and…
Entry history for Jedi, n.
Jedi, n. was first published in September 2019
Jedi, n. was last modified in July 2023
oed.com is a living text, updated every three months. Modifications may include:
- further revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
- new senses, phrases, and quotations.
Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into Jedi, n. in July 2023.
Cite
Chicago
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “,” , .
Copied to clipboard
MLA9
“” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, , .
Copied to clipboard
Contribute
Citation details
Factsheet for Jedi, n.
Browse entry
Nearby entries
- jean, n.1495–
- jean-age, n.1959–
- jeaned, adj.1970–
- jeanette, n.1785–
- jebel, n.1844–
- Jebusite, n.1535–
- jecorary, adj.1684
- jectigation, n.1693–1855
- Jedburgh staff, n.1516–1680
- Jeddart justice, n.1698–
- Jedi, n.1973–
- Jedi mind trick, n.1981–
- jee, n.1829–
- jee, v.1722–
- jee, adv. & int.1786–
- jeel, n.¹a1774–
- jeel, n.²1887–
- jeel, v.1896–
- jeep, n.1941–
- jeep, v.1942–
- jeepable, adj.1944–
