"zero" in seven languages
Meaningzero
Spanish
/ˈθeɾo/
borrowed · Italian zero
French
/zeʁo/
borrowed · Italian zero
Italian
/ˈdzɛro/
learned
Contracted from zefiro, Fibonacci's Latin zephirum.
Portuguese
/ˈzɛɾu/
borrowed · Italian zero (partly via French zéro)
Romanian
/ˈzero/
borrowed · French zéro / Italian zero
Catalan
/ˈzɛɾu/
borrowed · Italian zero (partly via French zéro)
English
/ˈzɪɹoʊ/
from Latin/French · French zéro, from Italian zero (Medieval Latin zephirum)
The Latin ancestor
ZEPHIRUM (Medieval Latin)‘zero, from Arabic ṣifr 'empty'’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Arabic ṣifr 'empty' entered Europe with Arabic numerals through Italian merchants and mathematicians; the same word gave cifra / chiffre / cifra 'digit'.
English relatives: cipher (the same Arabic word via Medieval Latin cifra)