different between firefly vs nul

English

Wikispecies

Etymology

From fire +? fly.

Noun

firefly (plural fireflies)

1. Any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight.
   • 2000, Exploring Life Science, 2: Bats—Cave Life, Marshall Cavendish, page 96,

     Fireflies are the best-known insects that produce light. […] Many fireflies use their light to communicate, particularly at mating time when males and females have to get together.

   • 2004, B. V. David, T. N. Ananthakrishnan, Chapter 20: Bioluminescence, General and Applied Entomology, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2nd Edition, page 130,

     The luciferins are different in different species and today both the luciferin and luciferase in the firefly are available in the crystalline form.

   • 2007, Lars Olof Björn, Helen Ghiradella, 23: Bioluminescence, Lars Olof Björn (editor), Photobiology: The Science of Life and Light, Springer, 2nd Edition, page 607,

     Various other luciferase genes, especially the firefly luciferase gene, are also used for the study of gene regulation. […] The classic use of bioluminescence, however, is the use of a luciferin-luciferase mixture from fireflies as an assay for ATP.

Synonyms

• (beetle): lightning bug

Translations

See also

• glowworm

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch nul, from Middle Dutch nul, from Middle French nul or Italian nulla, from Latin nullus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nœl/

Numeral

nul

1. zero

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin nullus (“none”), attested from 1888.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?nul/

Adjective

nul (feminine nul·la, masculine plural nuls, feminine plural nul·les)

1. null, insignificant, negligible
2. useless, inept

   Synonyms: inútil, inepte

3. null, void, invalid
4. null, absent, non-existent

   Synonyms: absent, inexistent

Related terms

• anul·lar

References

Further reading

• “nul” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “nul” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “nul” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

Via German Null (“zero”) and Italian nulla (“zero”) from New Latin n?lla (“zero”), a substantivization of the adjective Latin n?llus (“no”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nol/, [?n?l]

Numeral

nul

1. zero

Interjection

nul

1. no way (vehement refusal)

Synonyms

• niks, nix, du kan tro nej

Noun

nul n (singular definite nullet, plural indefinite nuller)

1. The numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero.

   En million er et ettal med seks nuller efter.

   One million is a one followed by six zeros.

2. (figuratively) A nobody, a nonentity.
3. (in the plural) 2000s (the first decade of the 21st century)

Declension

Descendants

• ? Icelandic: núll

Pronoun

nul (uninflected)

1. (determiner) no
2. (pronoun) nothing

Synonyms

• ingen, intet

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch nul, from Middle French nul, from Old French nul, nulle (modern French nul) or Italian nulla, from Latin n?lla, from Latin n?llus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l/
• Hyphenation: nul
• Rhymes: -?l

Numeral

nul

1. zero, nought

Derived terms

Noun

nul m (plural nullen, diminutive nulletje n)

1. (mathematics) A zero, naught, the numerical expression of none, nothing.
2. (figuratively) A score of zero, the worst possible result.
3. (figuratively) A good-for-nothing, worth-/use-less person.

Related terms

• annuleren (verb)
• nihil
• nulliteit

Descendants

• Afrikaans: nul

Adjective

nul (used only predicatively, not comparable)

1. (archaic) nul, void
2. worthless

Synonyms

• (void) ongeldig
• (worthless) waardeloos

Esperanto

Etymology

Back-formation from nulo.

Pronunciation

Numeral

nul

1. zero

Usage notes

Can be used with both singular and plural nouns. (E.g. “zero dollars” can be both “nul dolaro” or “nul dolaroj”.) There is no formal standard for grammatical plurality of numbers between -1 and 1.

French

Etymology

From Middle French nul, from Old French, from Latin nullus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nyl/

Adjective

nul (feminine singular nulle, masculine plural nuls, feminine plural nulles)

1. (indefinite, singular only) no, nil
2. of poor quality, lousy, rubbish
3. lame

Usage notes

• The plural forms of nul as a determiner are archaic.

Noun

nul m (plural nuls)

1. (sports) A draw.

Pronoun

nul ?

1. (literary) no one, nobody

Synonyms

• personne

Derived terms

Further reading

• “nul” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• l'un

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French nul, from Latin nullus.

Pronoun

nul

1. nobody; no one

Adjective

nul m (feminine singular nulle, masculine plural nuls, feminine plural nulles)

1. none (not any)

Descendants

• French: nul
• ? English: null

Old French

Etymology

Latin nullus.

Pronoun

nul (singular, nominative nus or nuls)

1. nobody; no one

Adjective

nul m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nule)

1. none (not any)

Descendants

• Middle French: nul
  • French: nul
  • ? English: null
• ? Dutch: nul
  • Afrikaans: nul

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) nulla
• (Sutsilvan) nola, nula
• (Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) nolla

Etymology

From Latin nullus.

Numeral

nul

1. (Sursilvan) zero