zero (English)

Where does "zero" come from?

The word 'zero' traveled a long path from the Sanskrit 'śūnyá', meaning 'void' or 'nothingness'. This concept was translated into the Arabic 'ṣifr', which eventually entered Medieval Latin as 'zēphirum' and evolved into the various forms found in Romance languages. Through languages like Italian, French, and Spanish, it arrived in English as the term for the number representing an absence of quantity.

Full etymology tree

• zero (English), 'The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.'
  • borrowed zero (Early Modern Spanish)
    • inherited zēphirum (Latin), 'zero'
      • inherited zerum (Latin), 'zero'
        • derived صِفْر (ṣifr) (Arabic), 'Safar, the second of the twelve months of the Muslim lunar calendar, each beginning with a new moon.'
          • calque शून्य (śūnyá) (Sanskrit), 'zero'
            • derived *ḱówH- (Proto-Indo-European)
  • borrowed zero (Middle French)
    • inherited zēphirum (Latin), 'zero'
      • inherited zerum (Latin), 'zero'
        • derived صِفْر (ṣifr) (Arabic), 'Safar, the second of the twelve months of the Muslim lunar calendar, each beginning with a new moon.'
          • calque शून्य (śūnyá) (Sanskrit), 'zero'
            • derived *ḱówH- (Proto-Indo-European)
  • borrowed zero (Old Italian)
    • inherited zēphirum (Latin), 'zero'
      • inherited zerum (Latin), 'zero'
        • derived صِفْر (ṣifr) (Arabic), 'Safar, the second of the twelve months of the Muslim lunar calendar, each beginning with a new moon.'
          • calque शून्य (śūnyá) (Sanskrit), 'zero'
            • derived *ḱówH- (Proto-Indo-European)

Direct ancestors

• zephirum (Latin)
• शून्य (Sanskrit)
• cipher (English)
• chiffre (English)
• cero (Spanish)
• zéro (French)

Updated July 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris