zero ending

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English[edit]

Noun[edit]

zero ending (plural zero endings)

  1. (grammar) The absence of an ending after a nounstem 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[edit]