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null (nŭl)
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adj.
1. Having no legal force; invalid: render a contract null and void.
2. Of no consequence, effect, or value; insignificant.
3. Amounting to nothing; absent or nonexistent: a null result.
4. Mathematics Of or relating to a set having no members or to zero magnitude.
tr.v. nulled, null·ing, nulls
To make null.
n.
1. Zero; nothing.
2. An instrument reading of zero.
[French nul, from Old French, from Latin nūllus; see ne in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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