zero

Definition

The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.

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.

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.”"