Early Quenya
munta
noun. nothing
malda la munta
better than nothing
malda muntar
better than nothing
There are more words but they are from Tolkien's earlier conceptional periods. Tolkien likely changed these words as he evolved the aesthetics and completeness of the languages. You may even find languages that Tolkien later rejected. Do not mix words from different time periods unless you are familiar with the phonetic developments.
Below: Tolkien's Late Period (1950–1973). These are from Tolkien's late conceptual period — his most settled forms of the languages. Prefer these over the earlier ones above when composing new text.
A word appearing as ᴱQ. munta “nothing” in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/48, 81), likely related to the early negative root ᴱ√UMU (QL/98).
Neo-Quenya: Since the negative root √UMU appears in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. munta for purposes of Neo-Quenya. In earlier versions of this lexicon I used to recommend munta for “nothing”, but in 2024 an attested word for “none, nothing” ᴹQ. alla was published, from a document written by Tolkien in 1948. So I now recommend using munta for “✱zero, naught” for which we have no attested words.