Example sentences
zhè这jiàn件yī衣fu服yì一bǎi百líng零yī一kuài块qián钱。
This piece of clothing is 101 yuan.
wǒ我de的fáng房jiān间shì是sān三líng零yī一。
My room is 301.
The story behind the character
零
零 is 雨, rain, sitting on top of 令, which gives the sound. Xu Shen defined it as 餘雨也, leftover rain, the drizzle still falling after the shower has moved on. From drizzle it stretched to anything scattered and spare, the sense behind 零星, bits here and there. And when someone needed a way to write nothing inside a number like 一百零一, 零 got pulled in to do it.