nihil

[L.]
Nothing.

||Nihil album [L., white nothing]
(Chem.), oxide of zinc. See under Zinc. -- ||Nihil debet [L., he owes nothing]
(Law), the general issue in certain actions of debt. -- ||Nihil dicit [L., he says nothing]
(Law), a declinature by the defendant to plead or answer. Tomlins.

[Latin, Nothing.] The abbreviated designation of a statement filed by a sheriff or constable with a court describing his or her unsuccessful attempts to serve a writ, notice, or process upon the designated person.

The complete phrase nihil est refers to a failure to serve any writ while the term nihil habet describes the failure to serve a writ scire facias or another writ.

The term nil is a contracted form of nihil.

Nothing

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: (Latin) nil; nothing (as used by a sheriff after an unsuccessful effort to serve a writ)