Where does “naught” come from?

Naught comes from Middle English naht, from Old English nyht meaning "night," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European nókʷts with the prefix ne- meaning "not."

naught (English): Nothing; Nothingness; Alternative spelling of...

Definitions

  1. Nothing; Nothingness; Alternative spelling of...

Ancestry of “naught”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishnaughtAlternative form of nought
2Old Englishnāwihtnothing, naught
3Proto-West Germanic*naiwwihtnothing

Words derived from “naught”

Every word from Proto-West Germanic *naiwwiht →Every word from Old English nāwiht →Every word from Middle English naught →