Word.ws English Dictionary

nil-

nil- prefix: zero.

Prefix

nil-

  1. Zero.
  2. Used for the digit zero to form systematic element names of elements whose existence has been predicted, and which have not yet been given a trivial name.
    • un- (“1”) + bi- (“2”) + nil- (“0”) + -ium (element suffix) → unbinilium (“element 120”)

Origin of nil-

From Latin nil (“nothing”), shortened form of nihil.

Questions about nil-

What does nil- mean?
Nil- means zero.
What part of speech is nil-?
Nil- is a prefix.

Words near nil- in the dictionary

  1. nil
  2. nil by mouth
  3. nil desperandum
  4. nil disease
  5. nil per os
  6. nil-
  7. Nila
  8. nilable
  9. Niladevi
  10. niladic
  11. Niland

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nil- (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “nil-.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nil-. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.