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''aught'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260723122144-00-⌔

aught - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Pronoun

aught

  • (archaic or dialectal) Anything whatsoever, any part.
    • ✤ for aught I know/care
    • ✤ […] wouldst thou aught with me?1
    • ✤ But go, my Son, and ſee if aught be vvanting/Among thy Father’s Friends; […]2
    • ✤ Then Proclamation was made, that they that had ought to ſay for their Lord the King againſt the Priſoner at the Bar, ſhould forthwith appear and give in their evidence.3
    • ✤ […] to other objects, which for aught we know, may be only in appearance similar.4
    • ✤ It was a foolish thing to do; but when was happy youth aught but foolish?5
    • ✤ But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred […]6
    • ✤ His life among these fierce apes had been happy; for his recollection held no other life, nor did he know that there existed within the universe aught else than his little forest and the wild jungle animals with which he was familiar.7
    • ✤ There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.8

Adverb

aught (not comparable)

  • (archaic) At all, in any degree, in any respect.
    • ✤ […] and if your love
      Can labour aught in sad invention,
      Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb,
      And sing it to her bones […]      9

Noun

aught (plural aughts)

  • (archaic) Whit, the smallest part, iota.
    • ✤ Synonyms: bit, jot; see also Thesaurus: modicum

Noun

aught (plural aughts)

  • (sometimes proscribed) Zero.
  • The digit zero.

Noun

aught (uncountable)

  • (regional) Estimation.
    • ✤ *in my aught *
  • (regional) Of importance or consequence (in the phrase “of aught”).
    • ✤ *an event of aught *
  • (regional, rare, obsolete) Esteem, respect.
    • ✤ *a man of aught * ― a man of high esteem, an important or well-respected man
    • ✤ Show some aught to your elders, boy.

Verb

aught (third-person singular simple present aughts, present participle aughting, simple past and past participle aughted)

  • Obsolete or dialectal form of ought

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ôt
    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɔːt/
    • (Standard Southern British, Australian, New Zealand) IPA: /oːt/
    • (Scotland) IPA: /ɔt/
    • (US, without the cot–caught merger) IPA: /ɔt/
      • Audio (US, without the cot–caught merger): 🔊
  • enPR: ät
    • (US, cot–caught merger) IPA: /ɑt/
    • (Canada) IPA: /ɒt/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːt
  • Homophone: ought

Etymology 1

From Middle English aught, ought, from Old English āht, āwiht, from ā (“always”, “ever”) + wiht (“thing”, “creature”). More at wight.

Etymology 2

Rebracketing of a naught.

Etymology 3

From Middle English aught (“estimation, regard, reputation”), from Old English ǣht (“estimation, consideration”), from Proto-West Germanic ﹡ahtu. Cognate with Dutch acht (“attention, regard, heed”), German Acht (“attention, regard”). Also see ettle.

Etymology 4

Originally the past tense of owe.

Etymology 5

From Middle English ahte, from Old English eahta (“eight”). More at eight.

Printed 2026-07-23.

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Footnotes

  1. c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]: ↩

  2. 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 58: ↩

  3. 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 129: ↩

  4. 1748, [David Hume], “chapter 29”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC: ↩

  5. 1881, E[liza] Lynn Linton, “In the Morning”, in “My Love!” […], volume I, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, page 1: ↩

  6. 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC: ↩

  7. 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC: ↩

  8. 1977, J. R. R. Tolkien, “Ainulindalë”, in Silmarillion: ↩

  9. 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]: ↩