Word.ws English Dictionary

zilch

/zɪlt͡ʃ/

zilch noun: a nobody: a person who is worthless in importance or character.

Noun

zilch (countable and uncountable, plural zilches)

  1. (archaic, countable, informal) A nobody: a person who is worthless in importance or character.
    • President Henry P. Zilch. Chairman of the Board Charles D. Zilch. Treasurer Otto Zilch.1931 July, Ballyhoo, Vol. I, No. 1, p. 1
    • Bernarr MacZilch [for Bernarr Macfadden] and His Dynamic-Hooey System... The WEAKLING Who Became 'The World's Most Perfect Ass!'1932 February, Ballyhoo, Vol. II, No. 1
  2. (informal, uncountable) Nothing, zero.
    • Her search for decent home-made winter clothes came up with zilch, so she had to get imported stuff.
    • "If the homeless wind up with zilch," James retorted, veiling his indignation behind a malevolent smile, "it's because they deserve zilch."1991, Judith Arnold, One Good Turn, page 104

Adjective

zilch (not comparable)

  1. (US, informal) No, zero, non-existent.
    • Zilch, adj. Nothing, zero...1966, University of South Dakota, Current Slang
    • ...gorgeous faces but zilch talent...1977 February 3, The Telegraph, page 14

Verb

zilch (third-person singular simple present zilches, present participle zilching, simple past and past participle zilched)

  1. (US, informal) To cause to score nothing, to thoroughly defeat.
    • We zilched them on that rubber.1969, University of South Dakota, Current Slang
    • My favorite film of 1989 got zilched... That would be Field of Dreams.1990 April 2, USA Today, page 20
    Synonyms:
    shutout

Proper noun capitalized: Zilch

Zilch

  1. A surname from German.

zilch meaning in Urdu

zilch in Urdu

کچھ بھی نہیں

Synonyms of zilch

16 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of zilch

Forms of zilch

Noun
pluralzilches
Verb
third-person singular presentzilches
present participlezilching
past participlezilched
pastzilched

Origin of zilch

Probably from Joe Zilch, a placeholder name (compare John Doe) used by Nunnally Johnson in his column in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1923; in turn from Joe Zilch, an unseen character referenced in comedian Frank Tinney's stage routine. Compare the rare German surname Zilch.

From German Zilch. Found in America since at least the 1860s. As a 1930s placeholder surname of uncertain etymology, the eventual etymon of zilch.

Words that rhyme with zilch

Questions about zilch

What does zilch mean?
Zilch means a nobody: a person who is worthless in importance or character.
What is zilch in Urdu?
Zilch in Urdu is کچھ بھی نہیں. See Zilch meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is zilch?
Zilch can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce zilch?
Zilch is pronounced /zɪlt͡ʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of zilch?
The plural of zilch is zilches.

Words near zilch in the dictionary

  1. zilas
  2. zilascorb
  3. Zilbermints-Benoni Gambit
  4. Zilberschlag
  5. Zilberstein
  6. zilch
  7. zilched
  8. zilches
  9. zilching
  10. zilde
  11. zildes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: zilch (page history and authors); Zilch (page history and authors); zilch (Urdu Wiktionary) (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-zilch.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-zilch.wav.

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