Zero

How to spell zero

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce zero

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does zero mean?

1. nounThe figure 0, representing none or nothing, or the point on a scale from which measurement begins.
2. verbTo set or reset a measuring instrument back to nought before use.

Zero in a sentence

• noun

  The thermometer dropped to zero overnight and the pipes nearly froze.

• verb

  Remember to zero the kitchen scale before adding the flour.

• noun

  Her current account balance fell to zero once the rent and bills cleared.

• verb

  Engineers must zero the gauge each morning to keep the readings accurate.

Where does zero come from?

Language of origin: Arabic

This word traces back to the Arabic sifr, which literally meant 'empty' or 'nothing', the term Arab mathematicians used for the new place-holding digit that marked an empty column. When the concept travelled into Europe it was rendered in Medieval Latin as zephirum, and Italian compressed that into zero, the form that English borrowed in the early 1600s. The very same Arabic sifr also gave English the word 'cipher', so zero and cipher are long-lost cousins from a single root. The journey explains the otherwise odd-looking spelling: a soft z opening followed by the plain '-ero' ending, with no doubled letters or silent traps. Today it names both the digit 0 and the idea of nothing at all, a meaning that has stayed remarkably close to its 'empty' origin.

How the word is built

• zero (from Arabic sifr: empty, nothing)