Open main menu
Wiktionary

zero

See also: Zero, zéro, zéró, żero, and Żero

Contents

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 27 December 2006

EtymologyEdit

English numbers (edit)
0 1  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zeroth
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

zero

  1. (cardinal) 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.

Usage notesEdit

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

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

zero (countable and uncountable, plural zeroes or zeros)

  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.
  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.
    • 2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, 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.
    The electromagnetic field does not drop all of the way to zero before a reversal.
  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.
  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) A Mitsubishi A6M Zero, a long range fighter aircraft operated by the Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945.
  11. A setting of calibrated instruments such as a firearm.
  12. (finance) A security which has a zero coupon (paying no periodic interest).
    The takeovers were financed by issuing zeroes.

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

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

HyponymsEdit

HolonymsEdit

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

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

zero (not comparable)

  1. (informal) no, not any
    She showed zero respect.
    • 2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      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.
  2. (meteorology) Of a cloud ceiling, limiting vision to 50 feet (15 meters) or less.
  3. (meteorology) Of horizontal visibility, limited to 165 feet (50.3 meters) or less.
  4. (linguistics) Present at an abstract level, but not realized in the data.
    The stem of "kobieta" with the zero ending is "kobiet".

SynonymsEdit

  • (informal: virtually none): no

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

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

  1. (transitive) To set a measuring instrument to zero; to calibrate instrument scale to valid zero.
    Zero the fluorometer with the same solvent used in extraction.
  2. (transitive, computing) To change a memory location or range to values of zero; to set a variable in a computer program to zero.
    Results were inconsistent because an array wasn’t zeroed during initialization.
  3. (transitive) To cause or set some value or amount to be zero.
    They tried to zero the budget by the end of the quarter.
  4. (transitive) To eliminate; to delete; to overwrite with zeros.
    • 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.
  5. (intransitive) To 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.

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

BasqueEdit

Basque cardinal numbers
0 1  > 
    Cardinal : zero
Basque Wikipedia article on zero

EtymologyEdit

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

NumeralEdit

zero

  1. (cardinal) zero

CatalanEdit

Catalan cardinal numbers
0 1  > 
    Cardinal : zero
Catalan Wikipedia article on zero

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

zero m, f

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

Derived termsEdit

NounEdit

zero m (plural zeros)

  1. zero

IdoEdit

Ido cardinal numbers
0 1  > 
    Cardinal : zero
    Ordinal : zeresma
    Adverbial : zerfoye
    Multiplier : zeropla
    Fractional : zerima
Ido Wikipedia article on zero

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

zero

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

InterlinguaEdit

NumeralEdit

zero

  1. zero

ItalianEdit

Italian cardinal numbers
0 1  > 
    Cardinal : zero
    Ordinal : zeresimo
    Collective : nessuno

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈd͡zɛ.ro/, [ˈd̪͡z̪ɛːr̺o]
  • Rhymes: -ɛro
  • Stress: zèro
  • Hyphenation: ze‧ro

NumeralEdit

zero

  1. (cardinal) zero

AdjectiveEdit

zero m, f (invariable)

  1. zero

NounEdit

zero m (plural zeri)

  1. zero
  2. nil (football)

Derived termsEdit

See alsoEdit

JapaneseEdit

RomanizationEdit

zero

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ゼロ

KurdishEdit

EtymologyEdit

zer +‎ -o

NounEdit

zero m

  1. blond (male person)

See alsoEdit

LatinEdit

PolishEdit

PortugueseEdit

Portuguese cardinal numbers
0 1  > 
    Cardinal : zero

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

zero m pl, f pl

  1. (cardinal) zero
    • Zero pessoas vieram.
      Zero people came.

Usage notesEdit

Takes the plural.

SynonymsEdit

NounEdit

zero m (plural zeros)

  1. zero (name of the digit 0)

Related termsEdit

VerbEdit

zero

  1. first-person singular (eu) present indicative of zerar

RomanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from French zéro.

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

zero

  1. (cardinal) zero
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=zero&oldid=51582135"