aught
Pluralaughts
Pluralaughts
- 1
- 2The number zero; nothing in quantity or value.
The home team's score stayed at aught for the entire first half.
Her savings had dwindled to aught by the end of the month.
Similarzero, nothing, nil, nought
Note
A misheard word: a naught, divided as an aught, gave English a second aught that means zero. Some careful writers object to it, because the older aught means "anything" rather than "nothing". The objection is not universal, so the word is only sometimes flagged, but in formal prose zero is the safe choice.
- 3Anything whatsoever; any part or thing at all.
Should you hear aught of the missing ship, send word at once.
But go, my son, and see if aught be wanting.
1712, [Joseph] Addison, CatoNote
The "anything" pronoun, first of several unrelated words spelled this way: Old English āht, from ā "ever" and wiht "thing" (the wiht behind wight). It is most at home in questions and if-clauses, as in Shakespeare's "wouldst thou aught with me?" and Addison's "see if aught be wanting". Hume's "for aught we know" (1748) shows a set phrase. Bunyan spells it ought, so keep the two words apart.
- 4Importance or consequence, occurring in the regional phrase "of aught."
She doubted whether his many promises were of aught in the end.
The committee settled nothing of aught during the whole afternoon.
Similarconsequence, importance, significance, value, account
Note
A fixed phrase rather than a free noun: of aught follows the noun it describes, as in an event of aught, much as of note or of consequence do. It grows from the "estimation" sense, since what is of aught is worth reckoning with. Because it looks like the pronoun, readers may take it as "of anything". The context shows that it means importance.
- 5Estimation; one's assessment or regard of a thing's worth.
By his aught, the harvest would fall well short that year.
Their aught of the stranger softened once he proved himself in the field.
Similarreckoning, estimation, judgment, opinion
Note
A third, unrelated aught: Middle English aught "estimation, regard", from Old English æht. Its relatives are Dutch acht and German Acht, both meaning "attention, regard". In regional speech it survives in the phrase in my aught, used where standard English says in my estimation or in my view. As a mass noun, it takes no plural.
- 6The smallest part or particle of something; a whit or iota.
His warnings counted for not an aught with the stubborn crew.
They refused to yield an aught of the disputed pasture.
Similarbit, jot, iota, grain, hint
Note
Here the Old English "thing" shrinks to the smallest thing there is, a near neighbor of jot and bit. It is easy to confuse with the "zero" aught, a separate word with a different origin. This one means a tiny amount and that one means none. It is archaic, so it suits period pastiche rather than everyday prose.
- 7At all; in any degree or respect.
If the grim news troubled him aught, he gave no sign of it.
Was she aught the wiser after his long and tangled explanation?
Note
Here the pronoun turns adverb: the pronoun "anything" stretched to mean "in any degree." It lives in if-clauses and questions. Shakespeare sets it inside a conditional in Much Adoe about Nothing (1598–1599). It usually follows the verb or comes before a comparative, as in aught the wiser. It is now archaic, and at all does the same work in ordinary prose. Use aught only when an old-fashioned voice is the point.
- 8Obsolete or dialectal form of ought.
Note
A spelling that carries ought back to its origin as the past tense of owe, so what one owed became what one ought to do. It behaves like the modal and takes to before the verb: they aught to have warned us. The confusion ran both ways, because ought was also once a spelling of the "anything" pronoun. In standard English, write ought.
- 9Obsolete or dialectal form of eight.
Seven — aught — aught tines on the antlers. By G—d, a hart of aught tines, and the first of the season!
1822, [Walter Scott], The Fortunes of Nigel.Note
The number eight in older or dialect dress, from Old English eahta. It has no connection to the other words spelled this way, and it counts exactly as eight does. Walter Scott's The Fortunes of Nigel (1822) gives it to a speaker counting the points on a stag's antlers: "a hart of aught tines". In standard English today, eight is the only form.
- 10Esteem; the respect or regard in which someone is held.
Held in high aught by all who knew her, she ran the household with ease.
His broken promises cost him the aught of the whole parish.
Note
Respect paid to a person rather than value placed on a thing: a man of aught, or show some aught to your elders. It takes some, never an, because it does not count. The word is rare and obsolete in general use and lingers only regionally. Outside dialect writing, respect or esteem is the word to choose.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English aught or ought, from Old English āht or āwiht, formed from ā ("always, ever") plus wiht ("thing, creature").
A rebracketing of "a naught," where the word boundary was reanalyzed.
From Middle English aught ("estimation, regard, reputation"), from Old English æht ("estimation, consideration"), from Proto-West Germanic *ahtu; cognate with Dutch acht and German Acht ("attention, regard").
Originally the past tense of "owe."
From Middle English ahte, from Old English eahta ("eight").