Why is zero called "love" in tennis?

Answer 1

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Although the theory is often heard that it represents the French word l'oeuf an 'egg' (from the resembance between an egg and a nought) this seems unlikely. The term "love" is said to come from the English phrase "neither for love nor for money", indicating nothing. (Taken from the book entitled The Guinness Book of Tennis Facts & Feats and Fifteen Love).

Also, it can be traced to the 17th-century expression "play for love," meaning 'to play without any wager, for nothing'. It is this meaning of 'nothing' that love takes on when used in tennis--and in certain card games, as well as in the occasional British football commentary . The proper way to describe a score of zero to zero is to say love-all.

Source(s):

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pp…

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/f…

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Interesting thankyou

Answer 2

There are many stories as to the origins of the score love (having zero points). Its most likely derivation is from the French word oeuf, which means egg. The oval shape of the egg is symbolic of the numeral "0."

Answer 3

I know how much people hate when others use Wikipedia as references, but this is just a POSSIBILITY:

"The origin of the use of "love" for zero is disputed; it is possible that it derives from the French word for an egg (l‘oeuf) because an egg looks like the number zero. "Love" is also said to possibly derive from "l'heure" or "the hour" in French. When stating the score, the server's score is stated first. If the server announces the score as "thirty-love," for example, it means that the server has won two points and the receiver none."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_scor…

Good question! And if anybody actually has the correct answer, props to you!

Answer 4

It means "egg" in French, and the term "love" is also used in other racket sports as a substiture for "zero" in badminton.