the.com/nought
Zero with a British accent and better posture.
means An old word for zero or nothing at all, as in 'nought' used in arithmetic or the phrase 'all for nought.'
from From Old English 'nowiht,' a fusion of 'ne' (not) plus 'awiht' (a thing, a whit) — literally 'not a thing.' That same 'awiht' gives us 'aught,' meaning 'anything,' so 'nought' and 'aught' are really siblings built from the same stock, one negated and one not. Over centuries 'nowiht' wore down through 'nawiht,' 'naught,' and 'nought,' settling into the tidy little word for zero that British schoolchildren still chant in sums.
- origin
- from old english naht, literally not a thing
- usage
- noughts and crosses beats tic-tac-toe for rhythm
- spelling cousin
- naught means the same, just fancier and more american
- math role
- placeholder digit that makes ten mean something