naught

N1A1U1G2H4T1
UK/nɔːt/Australia, British, New Zealand, Southern, Standard/noːt/US/nɔt/US, cot caught merger/nɑt/

pronoun

Nothing.

“Naught can come of this, you mark my words.”

Similar
nothingnilnixnadanullaughtciphercypher
OriginMiddle English naught ← Old English nawiht →
Less commonScrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

pronoun

alternative nought

  1. Nothing.

    Naught can come of this, you mark my words.

    3 more examples

    Eat! Drink! Love! for all else is naught.

    1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 215

    But that was naught to my old mate, he didn't mind at all.

    1994, Mike Hayes, Tell Us Anothree! More yarns from all around Australia, Sydney: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, published 2001, page 24

    My day starts where yesterday's had finished - at St Pancras, only this time on Thameslink and the subterranean station I first visited when it was naught but an empty box. Now it's a vital cross-London interchange.

    2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 56
nounnaught (countable and uncountable, plural naughts)

plural naughts · alternative nought

  1. archaiccountableuncountableNothingness.
  2. USalternativecountabledateduncountableAlternative spelling of nought.
numeral

alternative nought

  1. alternativearchaicAlternative spelling of nought (“zero”).

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna quantity of no importance; thing (object:), singular, negative pronoun; pronoun, thing, singular; quantifier: negative existential

Similar
nothingnilnixnadanullaughtciphercyphergoose eggzerozilchzipzippo
Broader
relative quantity
Also see
aughtciphercyphergoose eggnadanilnixnothingnullzerozilchzipzippo

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old Englishnawiht
  2. Middle Englishnaught
  3. Englishnaught

From the Middle English naught, nought, naht, nawiht, from Old English nawiht. Cognate with West Frisian neat (“nothing, naught”). Doublet of nought. Equivalent to ne + aught.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 无
  • 无 (wú)nothingness
Czech nicota
  • nicotanothingness
German Nichts
  • Nichtsnothingness
Polish nicość
  • nicośćnothingness
Portuguese nada
  • nadanothingness
Russian ничто́
  • ничто́ (ništó)nothingness

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with naught

thoughtairportboughtcaughtoughtfoughtwroughthautfraughttautdistraughtdreadnoughtaughtnoughtforethoughtMcNaughtghatcauthaughtbethoughtvautHadhramautoverthoughtsaught
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

noughtnotknot (both cot–caught merger)noughtnotknot (both cot–caught merger)noughtnotknot (both cot–caught merger)
Cite this entry
APA

naught. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naught

MLA

“naught.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naught. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “naught,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naught.

Source: naught on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.