Nothing

Part of speech: pronoun, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈnʌθɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The absence of anything; a state where no thing exists or is present
2. A concept that signifies the lack of existence or presence of any entity
3. a void that denotes the totality of absence and emptiness

Etymology: Old English speakers had a whole family of words for "nothing," and "nothing" itself was built from a plain phrase: "nāþing," from "nān þing," meaning "not any thing." The "nān" part was "not one" and "þing" was the ordinary word for a thing, so the compound simply spelled out a negated object. The same logic produced "nāwiht," "no thing" or "not a whit," and modern Swedish "ingenting" still follows the pattern, literally "not any thing." The word's shape changed over the Middle English period, when it appeared in forms such as "nothyng," "noon thing," and "non thing." Each version is a variation on the same idea of combining a negative with "thing," and the word gradually settled into the single form we use today.

Synonyms: nil, naught, zero, void, absence

Antonyms: everything, something, total, fullness, whole