Zero-grade

Alternative forms

• zero grade

Origin

zero ("none, nothing") + grade, as in gradation ("apophony").

Full definition of zero-grade

Noun

1. (Indo-European linguistics) In Proto-Indo-European linguistics, a term used to describe 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’.