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zero

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Zero, zerò, zéro, zèro, zêro, zêrô, zéró, zérô, żero, Żero, and ẓéro
Languages (15)
Translingual • English
Basque • Catalan • Ido • Indonesian • Interlingua • Italian • Japanese • Latin • Middle French • Northern Kurdish • Polish • Portuguese • Romanian
Page categories

Translingual

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Signal flag for the digit 0

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English zero.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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zero

  1. (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 0.
    Synonym: nadazero (ITU/IMO)
ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codes
Alfa Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliett Kilo Lima Mike
November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu
zero one two three (tree) four (fower) five (fife) six seven eight nine (niner) hundred thousand decimal
ICAO/NATO vs ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codes for digits
ICAO/NATO zero one two three (tree) four (fower) five (fife) six seven eight nine (niner)
ITU/IMO nadazero unaone bissotwo terrathree kartefour pantafive soxisix setteseven oktoeight novenine

References

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  1. ^ International Maritime Organisation (2005). International Code of Signals. Fourth edition, London.
  2. ^ Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status‎[1], 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, October 2001, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, pages §5.2.1.3, Figure 5–1

English

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WOTD – 27 December 2006

Etymology

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English numbers (edit)
0 1  →  10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zeroth
    Abbreviated ordinal: 0th
    Adverbial: never
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Collectively borrowed from Early Modern Spanish zero, Middle French zero, and (their etymon) Old Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zēphirum, from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “nothing; cipher”), itself calqued from Sanskrit शून्य (śūnyá, “void; nothingness”).[1] Doublet of cipher and chiffre. Cognate with Spanish cero and French zéro.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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zero

  1. The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.
    The conductor waited until the passenger count was zero.
    A cheque for zero dollars and zero cents crashed the computers on division by zero.
    • 2024 July 22, Nimi Princewill, “Uganda’s President Museveni warns citizens they are ‘playing with fire’ over planned protests”, in CNN‎[4]:
      Last year, it scored 26 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index which ranks countries on a scale of zero to 100, with zero meaning “highly corrupt” and 100 signifying that a country is “very clean.”
    • 2025 May 14, Andy Comfort, “Holding out for a zero...”, in RAIL, number 1035, page 58:
      "A zero itself is nothing, but without a zero you cannot count anything. Therefore, a zero is something, yet zero."
      These words of wisdom from the Dalai Lama might not have been in the minds of planners and engineers when designing new railway station platforms, but for several main line stations, zero is indeed something. Eight stations in the UK now operate a Platform 0 - from Cardiff to Kings Cross, Doncaster and Haymarket.

Usage notes

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  • In an adjectival sense, used with the plural of a countable noun or with an uncountable noun:
    I have zero dollars and zero food.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Japanese: ゼロ
  • → Korean: 제로 (jero)
  • → Tokelauan: helo

Translations

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See also

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Noun

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zero (countable and uncountable, plural zeros or zeroes)

  1. The numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero.
    In unary and k-adic notation in general, zero is the empty string.
    Write 0.0 to indicate a floating point number rather than the integer zero.
    The zero sign in American Sign Language is considered rude in some cultures.
  2. The digit 0 in the decimal, binary, and all other base numbering systems.
    One million has six zeroes.
    • 2007 September 11, John Markoff, “Redefining the Architecture of Memory”, in The New York Times‎[5], archived from the original on 9 November 2020:
      His idea is to stand billions of ultrafine wire loops around the edge of a silicon chip — hence the name racetrack — and use electric current to slide infinitesimally small magnets up and down along each of the wires to be read and written as digital ones and zeros.
    • 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv‎[6], page 1‎[7]:
      Here is the formal definition: an autobiographical number is a number N such that the first digit of N counts how many zeroes are in N, the second digit counts how many ones are in N and so on. In our example, 1210 has 1 zero, 2 ones, 1 two and 0 threes.
    • 2024 January 4, Matthew Sparkes, “First working graphene semiconductor could lead to faster computers”, in New Scientist‎[8], retrieved 18 January 2024:
      This effectively allows switching on and off of the flow of current, so it is either conducting or not conducting, creating the binary system of zeroes and ones used in digital computers.
  3. (informal, uncountable) Nothing, or none.
    The shipment was lost, so they had zero in stock.
    He knows zero about humour.
    In the end, all of our hard work amounted to zero.
  4. The value of a magnitude corresponding to the cardinal number zero.
    The electromagnetic field does not drop all of the way to zero before a reversal.
    • 2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist‎[9], volume 408, number 8843, archived from the original on 1 April 2019, page 68:
      Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
  5. The point on a scale at which numbering or measurement originates.
    The temperature outside is ten degrees below zero.
  6. (mathematics) A value of the independent variables of a function, for which the function is equal to zero.
    The zeroes of a polynomial are its roots by the fundamental theorem of algebra.
    The derivative of a continuous, differentiable function that twice crosses the axis must have a zero.
    The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function may all lie on the critical line.
    • 2006, Ivan Francis Wilde, Lecture Notes on Complex Analysis, Imperial College Press, page 153:
      As the next example shows, the set of zeros may well have a limit point not belonging to the domain.
  8. (mathematics, algebra) The additive identity element of a monoid or greater algebraic structure, particularly a group or ring.
    Since a commutative zero is the inverse of any additive identity, it must be unique when it exists.
    The zero (of a ring or field) has the property that the product of the zero with any element yields the zero.
    The quotient ring over a maximal ideal is a field with a single zero element.
  9. (slang) A person of little or no importance.
    They rudely treated him like a zero.
  10. (military, usually capitalized) A Mitsubishi A6M Zero, a long range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945.
    • 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “The New Age of Regionalism”, in The Vantage Point‎[10], Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 361:
      The visit to Townsville was filled with nostalgia for me. I remembered very well staying there on June 8, 1942. I shared a room with a brave and friendly officer, Colonel Francis Stevens. Early the next morning we flew to Port Moresby in New Guinea, and from there we took off in separate planes. Colonel Stevens never returned from that flight; his plane was shot down by a Japanese Zero.
  11. A setting of calibrated instruments such as a firearm, corresponding to a zero value.
  12. (finance) A security which has a zero coupon (paying no periodic interest).
    The takeovers were financed by issuing zeroes.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of “value of a function's variables at zero”): pole

Hyponyms

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Holonyms

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  • (value of a function's variables at zero): kernel

Derived terms

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Translations

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Determiner

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zero

  1. Synonym of no.
    She showed zero respect.
    • 2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport‎[11]:
      You have to salute Gerrard's bravery in accepting the challenge of trying to turn Rangers around given that he has zero experience in senior management. Immortality beckons if he does it.

Adjective

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zero (not comparable)

  1. (meteorology) Of a cloud ceiling, limiting vision to 50 feet (15 meters) or less.
  2. (meteorology) Of horizontal visibility, limited to 165 feet (50.3 meters) or less.
  3. (linguistics) Present at an abstract level, but not realized in the surface form.
    The stem of "kobieta" with the zero ending is "kobiet".
  4. (postpositive) Used in the names of foodstuffs, especially beverages, to indicate a version with no calories

Synonyms

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  • (informal: virtually none): no

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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zero (third-person singular simple present zeroes or zeros, present participle zeroing, simple past and past participle zeroed)

  1. (transitive) To set some amount to be zero.
    They tried to zero the budget by the end of the quarter.
    Results were inconsistent because an array wasn’t zeroed during initialization.
    Zero the fluorometer with the same solvent used in extraction.
    George parked in space 34, zeroed the trip meter, closed and locked his car, then went back to the guard shack.
  2. To disappear or make something disappear.
    • 1997, Tom Clancy, Executive Orders, page 340:
      Traffic on the encrypted channels used by senior Iraqi generals had peaked and zeroed, then peaked again, and zeroed again.
    • 2001, Mark Pesce, “True Magic”, in James Frenkel, editor, True Names by Vernor Vinge and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier:
      They discovered the object code for the simulator that was DON, and zeroed it. DON — or his creator — was clever and had planted many copies,
    • 2004, Anna Maxted, Being Committed, page 358:
      If I zeroed Jack, I'd get by So I'd erased him, pretended the last few months had never happened.
  3. To adjust until the variance is reduced to an acceptably low amount.
    The soldier took his gun to the shooting range to zero its aim.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “zero, n. and adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Basque

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Basque numbers (edit)
0 1  →  10  → 
    Cardinal: zero, huts
    Ordinal: zerogarren

Etymology

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From Spanish cero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, ultimately from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “zero, nothing, empty, void”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): (most dialects) /s̻eɾo/ [s̻e.ɾo]
  • IPA(key): (Biscayan) /s̺eɾo/ [s̺e.ɾo]

Numeral

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zero

  1. zero
    Synonym: huts

Declension

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Declension of zero (numeral V-stem)
indefinite singular plural proximal plural
absolutive zero zeroa zeroak zerook
ergative zerok zeroak zeroek zerook
dative zerori zeroari zeroei zerooi
genitive zeroren zeroaren zeroen zeroon
comitative zerorekin zeroarekin zeroekin zerookin
causative zerorengatik zeroarengatik zeroengatik zeroongatik
benefactive zerorentzat zeroarentzat zeroentzat zeroontzat
instrumental zeroz zeroaz zeroez zerootaz
innesive anim. zerorengan zeroarengan zeroengan zeroongan
inan. zerotan zeroan zeroetan zerootan
locative anim. — — — —
inan. zerotako zeroko zeroetako zerootako
allative anim. zerorengana zeroarengana zeroengana zeroongana
inan. zerotara zerora zeroetara zerootara
terminative anim. zerorenganaino zeroarenganaino zeroenganaino zeroonganaino
inan. zerotaraino zeroraino zeroetaraino zerootaraino
directive anim. zerorenganantz zeroarenganantz zeroenganantz zeroonganantz
inan. zerotarantz zerorantz zeroetarantz zerootarantz
destinative anim. zerorenganako zeroarenganako zeroenganako zeroonganako
inan. zerotarako zerorako zeroetarako zerootarako
ablative anim. zerorengandik zeroarengandik zeroengandik zeroongandik
inan. zerotatik zerotik zeroetatik zerootatik
partitive zerorik — — —
prolative zerotzat — — —

Further reading

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  • “zero”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
  • “zero”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Catalan

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Catalan numbers (edit)
0 1  → [a], [b] 10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
Catalan Wikipedia article on 0

Etymology

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From Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “nothing, cipher”).

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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zero m or f

  1. (cardinal number) zero
  2. (metrology) zero; origin point of a scale

Derived terms

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Noun

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zero m (plural zeros)

  1. zero

Ido

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Ido numbers (edit)
0 1  →  10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zeresma
    Adverbial: zerfoye
    Multiplier: zeropla
    Fractional: zerima

Etymology

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Borrowed from English zero, French zéro, Italian zero, Spanish cero.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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zero

  1. (temperature) zero
  2. (arithmetic) cipher, nought

Indonesian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Dutch zero. Doublet of Safar and sifar.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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zéro

  1. (rare) synonym of nol (“zero”)

Noun

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zéro (plural zero-zero)

  1. zero (the value of a magnitude corresponding to the cardinal number zero)
  2. (rare, of other senses) synonym of nol (“zero”)

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Interlingua

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Numeral

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zero

  1. zero

Italian

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Italian numbers (edit)
0 1  → [a], [b] 10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zeresimo
    Ordinal abbreviation: 0º
    Adverbial: mai
    Multiplier: nullo
    Collective: nessuno
Italian Wikipedia article on 0

Etymology

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From New Latin zerum, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “nothing”, “cipher”). Doublet of cifra.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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zero (invariable)

  1. zero
    • 1587, “Cap. IIII: Del multiplicare [Chapter 4: About Multiplication]”, in Cosimo Bartoli, transl., Opere di Orontio Fineo Divise in Cinque Parti: Aritmetica, Geometria, Cosmografia & Oriuoli‎[12], Venice: Francesco Franceschi Senese, page 10:
      Fatta questa prima mu[l]tiplicatione, va all’altra figura che gl’è à canto del numero Multiplicante che segue, il quale essendo zero, cioè che non significa cosa alcuna, non ti darà ancora cosa alcuna dal suo multiplicarlo
      Having done this first multiplication, go to the figure next to the following multiplying number, which, being zero – that is, it doesn't mean anything – will not give anything when multiplied

Noun

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zero m (plural zeri)

  1. zero
  2. nil (football)

Derived terms

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Japanese

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Romanization

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zero

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ゼロ

Latin

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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zērō

  1. dative/ablative singular of zērum

Middle French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian zero

Noun

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zero ? (plural zeros)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Northern Kurdish

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Etymology

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zer +‎ -o

Noun

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zero m

  1. blond (male person)

See also

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
Polish numbers (edit)
0 1  →  10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zerowy
    Adverbial: zerokrotnie
    Multiplier: zerokrotny
    Numeral noun: zero
    Relational adjective: zerowy
    Related verb: zerować

Etymology

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Borrowed from French zéro.[1][2] First attested in 1781.[3] Doublet of cyfra and szyfr.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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zero n (related adjective zerowy)

  1. zero (numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero)
  2. zero (point on a scale at which numbering or measurement originates)
  3. zero (nothing, or none; lack of something)
  4. (derogatory) zero (person of little or no importance)

Declension

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Declension of zero
singular plural
nominative zero zera
genitive zera zer
dative zeru zerom
accusative zero zera
instrumental zerem zerami
locative zerze zerach
vocative zero zera

Coordinate terms

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Polish cardinal numbers from 0 to 99
—0 —1 —2 —3 —4 —5 —6 —7 —8 —9
0— zero jeden dwa trzy cztery pięć sześć siedem osiem dziewięć
1— dziesięć jedenaście dwanaście trzynaście czternaście piętnaście szesnaście siedemnaście osiemnaście dziewiętnaście
2— dwadzieścia dwadzieścia jeden dwadzieścia dwa dwadzieścia trzy dwadzieścia cztery dwadzieścia pięć dwadzieścia sześć dwadzieścia siedem dwadzieścia osiem dwadzieścia dziewięć
3— trzydzieści trzydzieści jeden trzydzieści dwa trzydzieści trzy trzydzieści cztery trzydzieści pięć trzydzieści sześć trzydzieści siedem trzydzieści osiem trzydzieści dziewięć
4— czterdzieści czterdzieści jeden czterdzieści dwa czterdzieści trzy czterdzieści cztery czterdzieści pięć czterdzieści sześć czterdzieści siedem czterdzieści osiem czterdzieści dziewięć
5— pięćdziesiąt pięćdziesiąt jeden pięćdziesiąt dwa pięćdziesiąt trzy pięćdziesiąt cztery pięćdziesiąt pięć pięćdziesiąt sześć pięćdziesiąt siedem pięćdziesiąt osiem pięćdziesiąt dziewięć
6— sześćdziesiąt sześćdziesiąt jeden sześćdziesiąt dwa sześćdziesiąt trzy sześćdziesiąt cztery sześćdziesiąt pięć sześćdziesiąt sześć sześćdziesiąt siedem sześćdziesiąt osiem sześćdziesiąt dziewięć
7— siedemdziesiąt siedemdziesiąt jeden siedemdziesiąt dwa siedemdziesiąt trzy siedemdziesiąt cztery siedemdziesiąt pięć siedemdziesiąt sześć siedemdziesiąt siedem siedemdziesiąt osiem siedemdziesiąt dziewięć
8— osiemdziesiąt osiemdziesiąt jeden osiemdziesiąt dwa osiemdziesiąt trzy osiemdziesiąt cztery osiemdziesiąt pięć osiemdziesiąt sześć osiemdziesiąt siedem osiemdziesiąt osiem osiemdziesiąt dziewięć
9— dziewięćdziesiąt dziewięćdziesiąt jeden dziewięćdziesiąt dwa dziewięćdziesiąt trzy dziewięćdziesiąt cztery dziewięćdziesiąt pięć dziewięćdziesiąt sześć dziewięćdziesiąt siedem dziewięćdziesiąt osiem dziewięćdziesiąt dziewięć

Derived terms

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adverb
nouns
phrases
verbs
verbs

Trivia

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According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), zero is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 25 times in scientific texts, 43 times in news, 0 times in essays, 3 times in fiction, and 5 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 76 times, making it the 854th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Mirosław Bańko; Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021), “zero”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
  2. ^ Dubisz, Stanisław, editor (2003), “zero”, in Uniwersalny słownik języka polskiego [Universal Dictionary of the Polish Language]‎[2] (in Polish), volumes 1–4, Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, →ISBN, →OCLC
  3. ^ Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “zero”, in Słownik języka polskiego
  4. ^ Ida Kurcz (1990), “zero”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language]‎[3] (in Polish), volume 2, Kraków; Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 768

Further reading

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Portuguese

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Portuguese numbers (edit)
0 1  →  10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zerésimo
    Ordinal abbreviation: 0.º, 0º
Portuguese Wikipedia article on 0

Pronunciation

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  • Rhymes: -ɛɾu
  • Hyphenation: ze‧ro

Etymology 1

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Borrowed from French zéro, from Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “nothing, cipher”). Doublet of cifra.

Numeral

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zero m or f

  2. zero
    Synonym: (equivalent pronoun) nenhum
    Vieram zero pessoas.
    Zero people came.
Usage notes
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Takes the plural.

Noun

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zero m (plural zeros)

  1. zero (name of the digit 0)
  2. zero (worthless person)
  3. nothing
  4. (mathematics) zero (value of a function’s independent variables when the value of the function is zero)
    Synonym: raiz
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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zero

  1. first-person singular present indicative of zerar

Further reading

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French zéro.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈze.ro/
  • Hyphenation: ze‧ro
  • Audio:(file)

Numeral

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zero

  1. zero
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