zilch

See also: Zilch

English

WOTD – 31 July 2009

Etymology

From American English Zilch, a surname for a (fictional) insignificant person (e.g. Joe Zilch or the Mr. Zilch found in the humour magazine Ballyhoo in 1931; compare John Doe). Possibly invented to sound amusing, and not related to the real (but rare) German surname Zilch.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /zɪltʃ/

Noun

zilch ‎(countable and uncountable, plural zilches)

1. (informal, uncountable) nothing.
   • 1991, Judith Arnold, One Good Turn‎, page 104:

     "If the homeless wind up with zilch," James retorted, veiling his indignation behind a malevolent smile, "it's because they deserve zilch."

2. (informal, countable) A person who is unimportant or lacks character; a nobody.

Synonyms

• zero (standard), zip (informal), nada (informal)

Translations

(informal) nothing

• French: que dalle (fr), que pouic (fr)
• German: nix (de)
• Japanese: 何も ‎(nani mo)
• Romanian: canci (ro), ioc (ro), boacă (ro) f

• Russian: ничего́ (ru) ‎(ničevó), (slang) ни черта́ ‎(ni čertá), ни фига́ (ru) ‎(ni figá), ни шиша́ ‎(ni šišá), ни хрена́ (ru) ‎(ni xrená), (vulgar) ни хуя́ (ru) ‎(ni xujá), ни хера́ (ru) ‎(ni xerá)
• Swedish: noll (sv), nolla (sv) c, ingenting (sv)
• Turkish: hiç (tr), değersiz (tr)