aught

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: ôt, IPA^(key): /ɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt
• (US) enPR: ôt, IPA^(key): /ɔt/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: ät, IPA^(key): /ɑt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: ought

Etymology 1

From Middle English aught, ought, from Old English āht, āwiht from ā (“always", "ever”) + wiht (“thing", "creature”). More at wight.

Alternative forms

• owt

Pronoun

aught

1. (archaic or dialectal) Anything whatsoever, any part.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     […] wouldst thou aught with me?

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene v, page 2:

     But go, my son, and see if aught be wanting.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, →OCLC, page 129:

     Then Proclamation was made, that they that had ought to ſay for their Lord the King againſt the Priſoner at the Bar, ſhould forthwith appear and give in their evidence.

   • 1748, [David Hume], “chapter 29”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     […] to other objects, which for aught we know, may be only in appearance similar.

   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred […]

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     His life among these fierce apes had been happy; for his recollection held no other life, nor did he know that there existed within the universe aught else than his little forest and the wild jungle animals with which he was familiar.

   • 1977, J. R. R. Tolkien, Silmarillion, Ainulindalë, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.

Adverb

aught (not comparable)

1. (archaic) At all, in any degree, in any respect.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     […] and if your love
     Can labour aught in sad invention,
     Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb,
     And sing it to her bones [...]

References

• “aught”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Meaning of "zero" by confusion with naught. Used amongst those who were once called "non-U" speakers of English.

Noun

aught (plural aughts)

1. Whit, the smallest part, iota.
2. (archaic) Zero.
3. The digit zero.
   • as the decade in years (for example, aught-nine for 1909 or 2009)
   • in gun calibers (for example, thirty-aught-six for .30-06)

Usage notes

The use of aught and ought to mean "zero" is very much proscribed as the word aught originally meant the opposite of naught: "anything". This may be due to misanalysis, or may simply be the result of speakers confusing the meanings of aught and naught due to similar-sounding phonemes.

Translations

zero

• Bulgarian: ну́ла (bg) f (núla)
• German: Nichts (de) n
• Portuguese: zero (pt)
• Russian: ноль (ru) m (nolʹ), нуль (ru) m (nulʹ)

See also

• naught
• owt

Etymology 3

From Middle English aught (“estimation, regard, reputation”), from Old English æht (“estimation, consideration”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahtu. Cognate with Dutch acht (“attention, regard, heed”), German Acht (“attention, regard”). Also see ettle.

Noun

aught (uncountable)

1. (regional) Estimation.

   In my aught.

2. (regional) Of importance or consequence (in the phrase "of aught").

   An event of aught.

3. (regional, rare, obsolete) Esteem, respect.

   A man of aught (a man of high esteem, an important or well-respected man).

   Show some aught to your elders, boy.

Usage notes

In the first sense, generally found in the phrase "in one's aught" as inː "In my aught, this play ain't worth the candle". In the second sense, generally found in the phrase "of aught" as inː "nothing of aught has happened since you've been away, Sir". In the third sense, generally found in the phrase "a man of aught", or rarely in the more archaic phrase "to show somebody or something (some) aught" as inː "show your mother some aught, son".

References

• www.duden.de - Acht
• The Middle English Dictionary
• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Etymology 4

Originally the past tense of owe.

Verb

aught (third-person singular simple present aughts, present participle aughting, simple past and past participle aughted)

1. Obsolete or dialectal form of ought

Etymology 5

From Middle English ahte, from Old English eahta (“eight”). More at eight.

Numeral

aught

1. Obsolete or dialectal form of eight.
   • 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

     Seven — aught — aught tines on the antlers. By G—d, a hart of aught tines, and the first of the season!

Anagrams

• ghaut

Yola

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔːt/

Etymology 1

From Middle English aught, from Old English āht, ōht, shortening of āwiht, ōwiht.

Alternative forms

• aaght

Pronoun

aught

1. any, anything
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Geeth hea aught?

     Doth he get any or anything?

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 23

Etymology 2

Numeral

aught

1. Alternative form of ayght (“eight”)

   Numbers: oan, twye, dhree, vowre, veeve, zeese, zeven, aught, ween, dhen.

References

• https://web.archive.org/web/20050222031415/http://homepage.tinet.ie/~taghmon/histsoc/vol3/chapter4/chapter4.htm