zero grade, n.

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

# zero gradenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zero grade mean?

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

### How common is the noun zero grade?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0016
1900 | 0.0025
1910 | 0.0027
1920 | 0.0029
1930 | 0.0043
1940 | 0.0067
1950 | 0.0093
1960 | 0.012
1970 | 0.014
1980 | 0.016
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.019
2010 | 0.019

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

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zero grade is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero grade is from 1888, in the Academy: a monthly record of literature, learning, science, and art.

### Nearby entries

1. zero day, n. 1917–
2. zero-defect, adj. 1964–
3. zero derivation, n. 1960–
4. zero derivative, adj. & n. 1948–
5. zero-derived, adj. 1971–
6. zero-dimensional, adj. 1880–
7. zero-emission, n. & adj. 1952–
8. zero-energy, adj. 1947–
9. zero-field, adj. 1915–
10. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
11. zero grade, n.1888–
12. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
13. zero-graze, v. 1954–
14. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
15. zero grazing, n. 1954–
16. zero growth, n. 1907–
17. zero hour, n. 1915–
18. zero-hours, adj. 1988–
19. zeroing, n. 1906–
20. zeroize, v. 1894–
21. zero-length, adj. 1945–

## Meaning & use

Linguistics.

1. 1888–
   The most reduced form of weak ablaut grade, in which the vowel disappears; = nil-grade n.
   1. 1888

      > Mors is..in the zero-grade, the Latin -or- representing Indo-European sonant r.

      Academy 11 February 98/3
   2. 1965

      > The unfortunate myth that there is some essential connection between aorist aspect and stems consisting of zero-grade root plus accented thematic vowel in Indo-European.

      Language vol. 41 519
   3. 2009

      > Lubotsky's equation would require the nonassibilated stop to have been transferred at a late stage from the 0-grade or zero grade.

      Historische Sprachforschung vol. 122 217
   phonetics
   1. weak 1888–
      Grammar and Linguistics. In various applications opposed to strong (see strong, adj. 26). With reference to Indo-European languages: designating an…
   2. zero grade 1888–
      The most reduced form of weak ablaut grade, in which the vowel disappears; = nil-grade, n.
   3. deflected 1890–
      Philology. Used to translate French fléchi, a term proposed for the ‘strong’ grade in ablaut series.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero grade typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zero grade 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 grade, n., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0016
1900 | 0.0025
1910 | 0.0027
1920 | 0.0029
1930 | 0.0043
1940 | 0.0067
1950 | 0.0093
1960 | 0.012
1970 | 0.014
1980 | 0.016
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.019
2010 | 0.019

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

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