zero

Signal flag for the digit 0

• Zero, ZERO

Borrowed from English zero.

• IPA^(key): [ˈziro], [ˈziˈro]^[1][2]

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

English numbers ^(edit)

		0	1  →	10  →
Cardinal: zero     Ordinal: zeroth     Abbreviated ordinal: 0th     Adverbial: never

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈzɪəɹəʊ/, /ˈzɪɹəʊ/
• (General American) enPR: zĭʹrō, zēʹrō, IPA^(key): /ˈzɪɹoʊ/, /ˈziɹoʊ/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈzɪə.ɹəʉ/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈzɪə.ɹaʉ/
• Hyphenation: ze‧ro
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹəʊ, -ɪɹəʊ, -iːɹəʊ

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.

• In an adjectival sense, used with the plural of a countable noun or with an uncountable noun:

  I have zero dollars and zero food.

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

• Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

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.

10. (slang) A person dismissed as unimportant.

    Synonyms: cipher, nobody, nonentity, loser; see also Thesaurus:worthless person

    They rudely treated him like a zero.

11. (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.

12. A setting of calibrated instruments such as a firearm, corresponding to a zero value.
13. (finance) A security which has a zero coupon (paying no periodic interest).

    The takeovers were financed by issuing zeroes.

• (numeric symbol zero): cipher
• (digit zero): slashed zero
• (point of origin on a scale): origin, zero point
• (lowest point): nadir
• (negligible or irrelevant amount): naught, nil, nothing, nought, nowt, null, (informal) bugger all, (informal) fuck all, nada, sod all, sweet FA, sweet Fanny Adams, zilch, zip
• (value of a function’s variables at zero): root
• (identity element of a monoid): additive identity

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

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

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.

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

• (informal: virtually none): no

• zero growth
• zero tolerance

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.

• (to set to zero): tare
• (to cause to be zero): zero out

• zero in
• zero in on
• zero out

Basque numbers ^(edit)

		0	1  →	10  →
Cardinal: zero, huts     Ordinal: zerogarren

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

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾo, -o
• Hyphenation: ze‧ro

zero

1. zero

   Synonym: huts

• “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 numbers ^(edit)

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

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

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈzɛ.ɾu]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈzɛ.ɾo]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

zero m or f

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

• hora zero
• zero a l’esquerra
• zero absolut

zero m (plural zeros)

1. zero

Ido numbers ^(edit)

		0	1  →	10  →
Cardinal: zero     Ordinal: zeresma     Adverbial: zerfoye     Multiplier: zeropla     Fractional: zerima

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈze.ro/

zero

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

Borrowed from Dutch zero. Doublet of Safar and sifar.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈzero/ [ˈze.ro]
• Rhymes: -ero
• Syllabification: ze‧ro

zéro

1. (rare) synonym of nol (“zero”)

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”)

• “zero”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

zero

1. zero

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

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

• IPA^(key): ^*/ˈd͡zɛ.ro/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛro
• Hyphenation: zè‧ro

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

zero m (plural zeri)

1. zero
   • 16^th c., Vincenzo Borghini, Della moneta fiorentina‎^[13], Florence: Pietro Gaet. Viviani, published 1755, page 175, collected in Discorsi di monsignore D. Vincenzio Borghini - parte seconda:

     aggiugnendo a’ primi numeri un zero, o due, o tre, secondo che è il bisogno nostro, facciam crescere le centinaia in migliaia

     By adding a zero to the first numbers – or two, or three, according to our need – we increase the hundreds to thousands

2. nil (football)

• a zero
• zero assoluto
• zero spaccato
• zero zero sette
• l'ora zero

zero

1. Rōmaji transcription of ゼロ

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈzeː.roː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈd͡zɛː.ro]

zērō

1. dative/ablative singular of zērum

Borrowed from Italian zero

zero ? (plural zeros)

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

zer +‎ -o

zero m

1. blond (male person)

• zerê

Polish numbers ^(edit)

		0	1  →	10  →
Cardinal: zero     Ordinal: zerowy     Adverbial: zerokrotnie     Multiplier: zerokrotny     Numeral noun: zero     Relational adjective: zerowy     Related verb: zerować

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛ.rɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrɔ
• Syllabification: ze‧ro

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)

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]

• zero in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• zero in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “zero”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1927), “zero”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 8, Warsaw, page 446
• zero in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Portuguese numbers ^(edit)

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

• Rhymes: -ɛɾu
• Hyphenation: ze‧ro

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

zero m or f

2. zero

   Synonym: (equivalent pronoun) nenhum

   Vieram zero pessoas.

   Zero people came.

Takes the plural.

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

zero

1. first-person singular present indicative of zerar

• “zero”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “zero”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French zéro.

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

• Audio:

  (file)

zero

1. zero