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 German surname Zilch.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /zɪltʃ/

Noun

zilch (uncountable)

1. (informal) 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."

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)

• 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)