<p><a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/28741992/answer/41996789" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.zhihu.com/question/28741992/answer/41996789</a></p>

<p>零 hadn't meant 0 in the ancient Chinese. It just because 10X reads 一百零几 -- means more than 100, so 零 filled up the position of 0 when the 0 conception came into Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-06T03:35:46.870Z
2019-05-06T03:35:46.870Z
Administrator
<p>google ＂零＂词源说明 get e.g. <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B6/36714" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B6/36714</a> 零，是形声字，古同“泠”，清凉。从雨令声，令为领省，即暴雨之前零星的雨滴，《说文》，“零，余雨也”。疾雨曰骤，徐雨曰零，久雨曰苦。引申出零落、零丁等义。古文中零非数词，近代以后方假借为数词。 </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-05T16:53:10.360Z
2019-05-05T16:53:10.360Z
user6065
<blockquote>
  <p>零 originally meant rain</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Not just <em>rain</em>, but specifically <em>gentle rain</em>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>《<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">說文</a>・<a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;file=77391&amp;page=129" rel="nofollow noreferrer">雨部</a>》：＂零，<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BE%90%E5%BE%90" rel="nofollow noreferrer">徐</a>雨也。＂</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Semantic extension:</p>

<p><em>Gentle rain</em> > <em>scattered/fragmentary</em> > <em>small/fractional</em> > <em>zero</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-05T06:17:27.853Z
2019-05-05T06:17:27.853Z
dROOOze
<p>I understand that 零 originally meant rain, however for some reason it eventually became fragments and then also zero. How did the meaning of this character shift to become fragments (rain drops, maybe?) as well as zero?</p>

<meaning-in-context><etymology>
How did 零 come to mean zero?
# How did 零 come to mean zero?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-05)

I understand that 零 originally meant rain, however for some reason it eventually became fragments and then also zero. How did the meaning of this character shift to become fragments (rain drops, maybe?) as well as zero?

**Tags:** meaning-in-context, etymology


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-05-05. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

> 零 originally meant rain

Not just *rain*, but specifically *gentle rain*.

> 《[說文](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi)・[雨部](https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=77391&page=129)》：＂零，[徐](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BE%90%E5%BE%90)雨也。＂

Semantic extension:

*Gentle rain* > *scattered/fragmentary* > *small/fractional* > *zero*.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2019-05-06. Score: 3

<https://www.zhihu.com/question/28741992/answer/41996789>

零 hadn't meant 0 in the ancient Chinese. It just because 10X reads 一百零几 -- means more than 100, so 零 filled up the position of 0 when the 0 conception came into Chinese.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2019-05-05. Score: 1

google ＂零＂词源说明 get e.g. <https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B6/36714> 零，是形声字，古同“泠”，清凉。从雨令声，令为领省，即暴雨之前零星的雨滴，《说文》，“零，余雨也”。疾雨曰骤，徐雨曰零，久雨曰苦。引申出零落、零丁等义。古文中零非数词，近代以后方假借为数词。


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