Using zinc nitrate as a precursor and NaOH starch as a stabilizing agent, hexagonal zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles has been synthesized by precipitation method. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show particles of nearly uniform spherical size of around 40 nm. The infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) measurement reveals the peak at 500 cm(-1). corresponding to the Zn-O bond. Dielectric studies of ZnO nanoparticles show frequency dependence dielectric anomaly at low temperature (85-300 K). Results reveal that the capacitance and loss tangent decrease with the frequency while these parameters improve with the increasing of temperature. The increase of a.c. conductivity with the temperature indicates that the mobility of charge carriers is responsible for hopping and electronic polarization in ZnO nanoparticles. (C) 2012 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.