Aught
adv, noun, num, pron, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Whit, the smallest part, iota. archaic
- 2 Zero. proscribed, sometimes
- 3 Estimation. regional, uncountable
"in my aught"
- 4 a quantity of no importance; thing (object:), singular, negative pronoun; pronoun, thing, singular; quantifier: negative existential wordnet
- 5 The digit zero.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Of importance or consequence (in the phrase "of aught"). regional, uncountable
"an event of aught"
- 7 Esteem, respect. obsolete, rare, regional, uncountable
"a man of aught"
- 1 Obsolete or dialectal form of ought alt-of, dialectal, obsolete
- 1 At all, in any degree, in any respect. archaic, not-comparable
"[…] and if your love Can labour aught in sad invention, Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb, And sing it to her bones [...]"
- 1 Anything whatsoever, any part. archaic, dialectal
"for aught I know/care"
- 1 Obsolete or dialectal form of eight. alt-of, dialectal, obsolete
"Seven — aught — aught tines on the antlers. By G—d, a hart of aught tines, and the first of the season!"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The Beast returned to Bella and said to her, "This house with all that therein is is thine; if thou desirest aught clap thine hands and say the word and it shall be brought unto thee." And with that he made a sort of bow and went away."
Etymology
From Middle English aught, ought, from Old English āht, āwiht, from ā (“always", "ever”) + wiht (“thing", "creature”). More at wight.
Rebracketing of a naught.
From Middle English aught (“estimation, regard, reputation”), from Old English æht (“estimation, consideration”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahtu. Cognate with Dutch acht (“attention, regard, heed”), German Acht (“attention, regard”). Also see ettle.
Originally the past tense of owe.
From Middle English ahte, from Old English eahta (“eight”). More at eight.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.