Names for the number 0

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There are several names for the number 0 in different languages.

Language Name and pronunciation
or transliteration
Notes
Arabic صفر (sifr)
Chinese The character 零 (pinyin: líng) means "zero" in Chinese, although 〇 is also common. Etymologically 零 is an onomatopoeic word for "light rain". The upper part of the character is 雨, meaning "rain", and the lower part is 令 (lìng), for the sound.[1]
Czech nula
Dutch nul /nyl/
English zero There are many other names
French zéro /zeʁo/
German Null Whether the first letter of number names should be capitalized – like all nouns are – or not is disputed
Greek μηδέν /miːðɛn/ Literally meaning "not even one"
Gujarati શૂન્ય (Śūn'ya)
Haitian Creole zewo
Hindi शून्य
Hebrew אֶפֶס (efes)
Indonesian nol /nɔl/ Adopted from the Dutch word nul. In addition, people often pronounce it as "kosong" /kɔsɔŋ/, literally meaning 'empty', when spelling telephone numbers.
Japanese 零 (read rei) The character 零 (read rei) means "zero" in Japanese, although 〇 is also common. However, in common usage, ゼロ/ぜろ (read zero) is preferred, as it is a direct adaptation of the English equivalent.
Korean Korean; Hanja; RRyeong or Korean; Hanja; RRgong
Lojban no
Malayalam പൂജ്യം (poojyam)
Polish zero /'zɛɾɔ/
Portuguese zero /zæro/
Romanian zero
Russian ноль or нуль
Spanish cero
Tamil சுழியம் (sūḻiyam), பூஜ்ஜியம் (poojyam), or சைவர் (saivar)
Telugu సున్న or ౦ (sunna)
Turkish sıfır[2]

References

  1. Chinese character etymology
  2. Çoker, Doğan, and Timur Karaçay. Matematik Terimleri Sözlüğü. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları, 1983. Print.