The aughts (American English)[1][2][3]ornoughties (British English)[4][5] are terms referring to the decade 2000 to 2009. These arise from the words aught and nought respectively, both meaning zero.
In the English-speaking world, a name for the decade was never universally agreed on.[6][7][8][9][10]
The noughties became a common name for the decade in the United Kingdom[11][12][13][14][15] and in New Zealand and Australia.[16][17]
Although use of the word aught to refer to zero is not widespread in the United States, the use of aughts to identify the decade became common there.[18][19][20]
