zero mark, n.

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

# zero marknoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zero mark mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zero mark. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zero mark?

About 0.05occurrences per million words in modern written English

1820 | 0.0055
1830 | 0.0068
1840 | 0.0095
1850 | 0.012
1860 | 0.027
1870 | 0.047
1880 | 0.073
1890 | 0.096
1900 | 0.11
1910 | 0.13
1920 | 0.15
1930 | 0.14
1940 | 0.13
1950 | 0.11
1960 | 0.086
1970 | 0.073
1980 | 0.053
1990 | 0.042
2000 | 0.034
2010 | 0.031

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

Earliest known use

1820s

The earliest known use of the noun zero mark is in the 1820s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero mark is from 1821, in Philosophical Magazine.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
2. zero grazing, n. 1954–
3. zero growth, n. 1907–
4. zero hour, n. 1915–
5. zero-hours, adj. 1988–
6. zeroing, n. 1906–
7. zeroize, v. 1894–
8. zero-length, adj. 1945–
9. zero-line, n. 1834–
10. zero magnet, n. 1890–
11. zero mark, n.1821–
12. zero meridian, n. 1849–
13. zero norm, n. 1966–
14. zero option, n. 1976–
15. zero-order, adj. 1919–
16. zero plane, n. 1842–
17. zero point, n. 1789–
18. zero-point energy, n. 1913–
19. zero population growth, n. 1955–
20. zero post, n. 1908–
21. zero-power, adj. 1950–

## Meaning & use

1. 1821–
   a. A mark on a scale or instrument from which a positive or negative quantity is reckoned; b. a mark from which distances along roads or railway lines are measured (cf. zero post n.) (now rare).
   1. 1821

      > I have not at present been able to find any correct level of the River Thames, so as to fix the zero marks in London.

      Philosophical Magazine vol. 58 318
   2. 1863

      > At the present moment the needle..points to the zero mark on the graduated disc.

      J. Tyndall, Heat i. 3
   3. 1908

      > The iron tablet marking the position of Tyburn-gate..is virtually a milestone, marking, as it does, a spot from which the miles on the two great roads that join at Marble Arch are measured. It is perhaps the sole survivor of the zero marks of London.

      Times 2 January 8/6
   4. 1927

      > A traveler..will find back of the White House another kind of ‘zero mark’, one which, by Act of Congress, is the starting point of the entire highway system of the United States.

      Popular Science Monthly May 35/1
   5. 2015

      > The thermometer was still hovering around the zero mark at kick-off.

      Daily Mirror (Ireland) (Nexis) 14 December (Sports section) 38
   railways
   1. zero mark 1821–
      a. A mark on a scale or instrument from which a positive or negative quantity is reckoned; b. a mark from which distances along roads or railway…
   2. zero post 1908–
      A post from which distances along roads or railway lines are measured; cf. zero mark, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero mark typically occurs about 0.05 times per million words in modern written English.

zero mark is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 mark, n., 1820–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1820 | 0.0055
1830 | 0.0068
1840 | 0.0095
1850 | 0.012
1860 | 0.027
1870 | 0.047
1880 | 0.073
1890 | 0.096
1900 | 0.11
1910 | 0.13
1920 | 0.15
1930 | 0.14
1940 | 0.13
1950 | 0.11
1960 | 0.086
1970 | 0.073
1980 | 0.053
1990 | 0.042
2000 | 0.034
2010 | 0.031

### Frequency of zero mark, 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 | 0.0088
2018 | 0.0096
2019 | 0.013
2020 | 0.017
2021 | 0.02
2022 | 0.019
2023 | 0.021
2024 | 0.02

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

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.