zero-grade
See also: zero grade
English
Alternative forms
- zero grade
Etymology
zero (“none, nothing”) + grade, as in gradation (“apophony”).
Noun
zero-grade (plural zero-grades)
- (Indo-European linguistics) In Proto-Indo-European linguistics, an ablaut form of a root characterized by the absence of the basic ablauting vowel phonemes */e/ and */o/.
- *bʰr̥- is the zero-grade of the Indo-European root *bʰer- meaning ‘to carry, bear’.