zero: [17] In common with many other English mathematical terms, zero comes ultimately from Arabic. Its distant ancestor is Arabic sifr, a noun use of an adjective meaning ‘empty’, which also produced English cipher. It passed into English via Old Spanish zero and French zéro. => cipher
zero (n.)
"figure which stands for naught in the Arabic notation," also "the absence of all quantity considered as quantity," c. 1600, from French zéro or directly from Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic sifr "cipher," translation of Sanskrit sunya-m "empty place, desert, naught" (see cipher (n.)).
A brief history of the invention of "zero" can be found here. Meaning "worthless person" is recorded from 1813. As an adjective from 1810. Zero tolerance first recorded 1972, originally U.S. political language. Zero-sum in game theory is from 1944 (von Neumann), indicating that if one player wins X amount the other or others must lose X amount.
zero (v.)
in zero in, 1944, from zero (n.); the image is from instrument adjustment to a setting of "zero" (1909 in this sense, originally in rifle-shooting). Related: Zeroed; zeroing.
例文
1. The patient rates the therapies on a scale of zero to ten.
患者はこれらの治療法を十分制で採点した。
2.That night the mercury fell to thirty degrees below zero .
その夜、温度計は零下30度まで下がったことを示した。
3.They have a policy of zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
彼らはセクハラに対して決して容認しない政策を取っている。
4.This new ministry was being created with zero assets and zero liabilities.
この新しい部委員会は、資産も負債もないように準備されています。
5.It 's a sunny late winter day,just a few degrees above zero .