zero point, n.

zero-point
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-point_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero pointnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zero point mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zero point. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zero point?

About 0.6occurrences per million words in modern written English

1780 | 0.0052
1790 | 0.0052
1800 | 0.0056
1810 | 0.018
1820 | 0.037
1830 | 0.067
1840 | 0.098
1850 | 0.15
1860 | 0.21
1870 | 0.28
1880 | 0.35
1890 | 0.44
1900 | 0.51
1910 | 0.58
1920 | 0.66
1930 | 0.74
1940 | 0.79
1950 | 0.79
1960 | 0.75
1970 | 0.67
1980 | 0.59
1990 | 0.52
2000 | 0.49
2010 | 0.49

### How is the noun zero point pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊ pɔɪnt/
ZEER-oh poynt

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊ ˌpɔɪnt/
ZEER-oh poynt
/ˈziroʊ ˌpɔɪnt/
ZEER-oh poynt

### Where does the noun zero point come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zero point is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero point is from 1789, in 2nd Rep. Philanthropic Society.

zero point is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zero n. point n.1

### Nearby entries

1. zeroize, v. 1894–
2. zero-length, adj. 1945–
3. zero-line, n. 1834–
4. zero magnet, n. 1890–
5. zero mark, n. 1821–
6. zero meridian, n. 1849–
7. zero norm, n. 1966–
8. zero option, n. 1976–
9. zero-order, adj. 1919–
10. zero plane, n. 1842–
11. zero point, n.1789–
12. zero-point energy, n. 1913–
13. zero population growth, n. 1955–
14. zero post, n. 1908–
15. zero-power, adj. 1950–
16. zero-rate, v. 1972–
17. zero-rated, adj. 1972–
18. zero rating, n. 1971–
19. zero sound, n. 1957–
20. zero-sum, adj. 1944–
21. zeroth, adj. 1850–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zero n. + point n.1

## Meaning & use

1. 1789–
   The lowest point on a scale, order, or ranking; a value from which a positive or negative quantity is reckoned. Also: a point respresented by a 0 on an instrument or device, used as the basis for taking measurements. Cf. zero n. A.4a, zero n. A.4b.
   1. 1789

      > It's plan is to begin it's operations upon lives, which in their present state are below the Zero point, in the scale of estimation.

      2nd Rep. Philanthropic Society 15
   2. 1810

      > A thermometer, the zero point of which indicates absolute cold.

      T. Thomson, System of Chemistry (ed. 4) vol. I. 565
   3. 1826

      > Every star observed in the course of the sweep which can be identified with a star in any catalogue, and whose place is determined with certainty, is taken as a zero point.

      Mem. Astron. Society vol. II. 469
   4. 1895

      > The balls were placed horizontally in their neutral position, and the reading of the zero-point of the scale taken.

      Physical Review vol. 2 326
   5. 1920

      > To avoid errors in weighing, one must know how to determine the Zero Point of the balance.

      Metal Industry vol. 18 412/2
   6. 1993

      > The zero point for measuring celestial longitude is the spring equinox.

      H. Thurston, Early Astronomy i. 32
   7. 2014

      > The octane rating was developed..in 1926. The selection of n-heptane as the zero point of the scale was due to its availability in high purity.

      Daily News (Sri Lanka) (Nexis) 8 January
   particle physics
   1. zero point 1789–
      The lowest point on a scale, order, or ranking; a value from which a positive or negative quantity is reckoned. Also: a point respresented by a 0…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊ pɔɪnt/
ZEER-oh poynt

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊ ˌpɔɪnt/
ZEER-oh poynt
/ˈziroʊ ˌpɔɪnt/
ZEER-oh poynt

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zero point typically occurs about 0.6 times per million words in modern written English.

zero point is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zero point, n., 1780–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1780 | 0.0052
1790 | 0.0052
1800 | 0.0056
1810 | 0.018
1820 | 0.037
1830 | 0.067
1840 | 0.098
1850 | 0.15
1860 | 0.21
1870 | 0.28
1880 | 0.35
1890 | 0.44
1900 | 0.51
1910 | 0.58
1920 | 0.66
1930 | 0.74
1940 | 0.79
1950 | 0.79
1960 | 0.75
1970 | 0.67
1980 | 0.59
1990 | 0.52
2000 | 0.49
2010 | 0.49

### Frequency of zero point, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.27
2018 | 0.27
2019 | 0.28
2020 | 0.31
2021 | 0.33
2022 | 0.36
2023 | 0.39
2024 | 0.4

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zero-point energy, n. 1913–
   (In quantum mechanics) the minimum energy…

1. C.1.
   1929–
   attributive. Physics. In quantum mechanics: designating properties of and phenomena exhibited by physical systems when possessing the minimum possible amount of energy.
   See also zero-point energy n.
   1. 1929

      > Experiments which have been made to determine the intensity of the x-ray diffraction pattern as a function of the temperature seem to point rather clearly to the existence of zero point energy and a zero point motion of the system.

      Physical Review vol. 34 280
   2. 1955

      > The interaction with the zero point vibrations of the crystal lattice leads to an interaction between electrons.

      H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli, Niels Bohr & Development of Physics 130
   3. 1973

      > In quantum physics the ground state is not a state of absolute rest or motionlessness but only a singular ‘zero point’ form of motion in which there are no quasiparticles.

      Scientific American January 91/1
   4. 1999

      > Pauling's model was devised in part to account for the known zero-point entropy of ice.

      V. F. Petrenko & R. W. Whitworth, Physics of Ice (2003) ii. 25
   5. 2005

      > The object would also warp the zero-point field such that a particle in its vicinity would encounter more photons on the side away from the object than on the nearer side.

      New Scientist 13 August 16/4
   particle physics
2. C.2.
   1. zero-point energy, n. 1913–
      (In quantum mechanics) the minimum energy…

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero point, n. was revised in June 2018.

zero point, n. was last modified in December 2024.