zero ending

English

Noun

zero ending (plural zero endings)

1. (grammar) The absence of an ending after a noun‐stem in a language in which endings are normally applied; often written as ∅

   The Polish word for "cat" is "kot". Its genitive form is "kota", which has the ending "–a". Because the nominative form consists of the stem without an ending, it can be said that "kot" has the zero ending. In a table listing the endings one could hence write: "Nominative: –∅, Genitive: –a".

See also

• ∅