nil

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /nɪl/ UK /nɪl/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like kneel /ɪ/ vs /iː/

Meanings

1

noun
nothing; zero, especially as a score

The home team won three goals to nil.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · nothing; zero, especially... nothing zero none naughtzilchnought

Opposites

something total sum

Word family

Related forms nihilannihilate nihilism

Appears in

Proverbs (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Nil, recorded in the mid-16th century, comes from Latin nihil, meaning “nothing.”

Etymology

From Latin nil, a contraction of nihil ('nothing'), from ne- ('not') + hilum ('a trifle, small thing').

nihil Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# nil

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /nɪl/
**IPA (UK):** /nɪl/

## Meanings
1. nothing; zero, especially as a score

## Examples
- The home team won three goals to nil.

## Synonyms
- nothing
- zero
- none
- naught
- zilch
- nought

## Antonyms
- something
- total
- sum

## Related Forms
- nihil
- annihilate
- nihilism

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: nihil

## Etymology
From Latin nil, a contraction of nihil ('nothing'), from ne- ('not') + hilum ('a trifle, small thing').

## AI Etymology
Nil comes from Latin nil, a contraction of nihil ('nothing'), from ne- ('not') + hilum ('a trifle, small thing'). The etymological trail includes Latin nihil. As a noun, nil means nothing; zero, especially as a score. The same family is visible in related forms such as nihil, annihilate, and nihilism. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

markdown

nil