Meanings
present singular third person zero derives · participle present zero deriving · participle past zero derived · past zero derived · alternative zero-derive
- human sciencesTo derive a word from another word (of a differing part of speech) without modification; to perform zero derivation.
Table 2. Thirty adjective lexemes which zero-derive into verbs.
1986, Terence Odlin, “Markedness and the zero-derived denominal verb in English: synchronic, diachronic, and acquisition correlates”, in Fred Eckman, Edith A. Moravcsik, Jessica Wirth, editors, Markedness, →ISBN, page 1602 more examples
[…]assuming the presence of lexical classes in Kharia would force us to productively zero-derive verbs not from nouns but rather from entire NPs, i.e. not in the lexicon but in the syntax.
2013 August 29, John Peterson, “Parts of speech in Kharia: a formal account”, in Jan Rijkhoff, Eva van Lier, editors, Flexible Word Classes: Typological studies of underspecified parts of speech, →ISBN, page 144Some adjectives zero derive from adverbs, e.g. daily, down, faraway, far out, monthly, up, way out, well off (note that many derive from a pair of adverbs).
2014 February 3, Keith Allan, Linguistic Meaning (RLE Linguistics A: General Linguistics), →ISBN, Lexicon semantics, page 220
Origin
A back-formation from zero derivation, as if zero + derive.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
zero derive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zero%20derive
“zero derive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zero%20derive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zero derive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zero%20derive.
Source: zero derive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.