zero
/ˈzɪɹoʊ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.63 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
num
The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.
noun
The digit 0 in the decimal, binary, and all other base numbering systems.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A value of the independent variables of a function, for which the function is equal to zero.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The additive identity element of a monoid or greater algebraic structure, particularly a group or ring.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The conductor waited until the passenger count was zero."
- "A cheque for zero dollars and zero cents crashed the computers on division by zero."
- "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.”"
- ""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."
- "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."
Etymology
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”). Doublet of cipher and chiffre. Cognate with Spanish cero and French zéro.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: zero, zēphirum, صِفْر, ص ف ر, शून्य
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈzɪɹoʊ/
- British English: /ˈzɪəɹəʊ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages