zero in Chinese

How to write 零

Animated stroke order — tap a character to replay. Look up any character's stroke order → Printable writing worksheet for 零 →

零 is listed in the official HSK vocabulary at HSK 1. The beginner band covers the first, most essential words every learner needs.

零 in a sentence

• 零líng比bǐ一yī小xiǎo。

  Zero is smaller than one.

• 温wēn度dù降jiàng到dào了le零líng度dù。

  The temperature dropped to zero degrees.

• 我wǒ们men从cóng零líng开kāi始shǐ。

  We start from zero.

• 我wǒ的de电diàn话huà里lǐ有yǒu零líng这zhè个gè数shù字zì。

  My phone number has a zero in it.

零 vs 〇 vs 没

Similar and easily confused words, and how they differ.

• 〇 líng zero (formal)

  The circle form used in years and formal writing — 二〇二四 'year 2024'. 零 is the everyday zero.

• 没 méi not; have not

  For 'zero/none' in speech use 没有 — 我没有钱 'I have no money'. 零 is the digit 0 itself.