thing
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English thing, from Old English þing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Ding (“thing”), West Frisian ting, ding (“thing”), Dutch ding (“thing”), German Low German Ding (“thing”), German Ding (“thing”), Swedish, Danish and Norwegian ting (“thing”), Faroese ting (“parliament, assembly”), Icelandic þing (“congress, assembly”), Finnish tinki (“haggling”).
The word originally meant "assembly", then came to mean a specific issue discussed at such an assembly, and ultimately came to mean most broadly "an object". Compare Latin rēs, also meaning "legal matter", and same transition from Latin causa (“legal matter”) to "thing" in Romance languages. Modern use to refer to a Germanic assembly is likely influenced by cognates (from the same Proto-Germanic root) like Old Norse þing (“thing”), Danish ting, Swedish ting, and Old High German ding with this meaning.
Pronunciation
Noun
thing (plural things)
- That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:
- Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...
- 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:
- The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […], "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
- A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.
- An individual object or distinct entity.
- (law)
- (in the plural) Possessions or equipment; stuff; gear.
- Hold on, let me just grab my things.
- (somewhat dated, with the) The latest fad or fashion.
- 1802, Anne Ormsby, "Memoirs of a Family in Swisserland", quoted in The Monthly Review, Or, Literary Journal page 45:
- To go to bed late, to rise late, to breakfast late, to dine late, and to visit late, is to be “quite the thing,” or in good English, which you may understand better than the first phrase, to be in the fashion.
- 2002, Roger Nichols, The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917-1929, Univ of California Press, →ISBN:
- After a slow start it became the thing to do; 'everyone went to see Pbi-Pbi, no one talked of anything but Pbi-Pbi […] '
- 1802, Anne Ormsby, "Memoirs of a Family in Swisserland", quoted in The Monthly Review, Or, Literary Journal page 45:
- (informal) A custom or practice.
- Cheek kissing is a French thing; you get used to it after a while.
- (informal) A genuine concept, entity or phenomenon; something that actually exists (often contrary to expectation or belief). [from 20th c.]
- Bacon pie? Is that a thing?
- 1993 November 24, The Rush Limbaugh Show (radio), Rush Limbaugh (actor):
- Now I don't know how many of those male flight attendants are male lesbians -- you know... (Laughter) Well, it's a thing. I mean, there's a -- it's a -- there's a feminist professor down in Tampa who's discovered a male lesbian
- 2014, Marianna Papastephanou, Torill Strand, Anne Pirrie, Philosophy as a Lived Experience:
- Frequent statements of the kind “'Race' is not a thing”, “'races,' put simply, do not exist”, “'race' (as each essay subtly shows) simply does not exist” aim to discredit Todorov's claim that a relapse to an ontology of race is at place […]
- 2014, Harper Lin, Croissant Murder:
- Clémence would say that his style was normcore before normcore became a thing. She had to admit that she still found him attractive.
- 2019, Adam Gopnik, A Thousand Small Sanities, Riverrun, published 2019, page 88:
- Conservative philosophy, in other words, is, as we say now, a thing and deserves a serious listen.
- (informal) A unit or container, usually containing consumable goods.
- Could you get me a thing of apple juice at the store?
- I just ate a whole thing of jelly beans.
- 1998 March 24, Geraldo (television):
- And he invited us all in there and then he kicked the girls out a little bit later and brought me in a couple things of alcohol. And just before he brought in my second bottle of alcohol […]
- 2011, 1:19:48 from the start, in We Were Here:
- I remember my friend Ben saying in the old days that he would never go to Costco and buy one of those big things of toilet paper […]
- 2011, Juliette Fay, Deep Down True: A Novel, Penguin, →ISBN:
- I came home and ate a whole thing of ice cream.
- (informal) A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor.
- The car looks cheap, but the thing is, I have doubts about its safety.
- (informal, with the) The central point; the crux.
- That's the thing: we don't know where he is.
- (slang) A penis.
- 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 150:
- “Oh Gertie it’s true. It’s all true. They’ve got a horrid gash instead of a thrilling thing.”
- A living being or creature.
- you poor thing
- she's a funny old thing, but her heart's in the right place
- I met a pretty blond thing at the bar
- Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent.
- Oh yeah, I'm supposed to promote that vision thing.
- 1914, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, The Movie Man [playscript]:
- Don’t forget to have Gomez postpone that shooting thing. (in reference to the execution of Fernandez)
- (informal, used possessively) That which is favoured; personal preference.
- it's not really my thing
- 2002, Joss Whedon et al, "Never Leave Me", Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV episode):
- Tool talk [is] not my thing.
- 2006, Corbin Bleu, interview with Tigerbeat magazine:
- The Internet isn't my thing. I so much rather talk on the phone.
- (informal, used possessively, with "do") One's typical routine, habits, or manner.
- let me do my thing; I'm here doing my thing
- 2006, David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish, Tarcher 2006, "Darkness", p. 91:
- But I'm just a guy from Missoula, Montana, doing my thing, going down the road like everybody else.
- (chiefly historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country.
- 1974, Jón Jóhannesson, translated by Haraldur Bessason, A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth: Íslendinga Saga, page 46:
- In accordance with Old Germanic custom men came to the thing fully armed, [...]
- 1974, Jakob Benediktsson, Landnám og upphaf allsherjarríkis, in Saga Íslands, quoted in 1988 by Jesse L. Byock in Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power, page 85:
- The goðar seem both to have received payment of thing-fararkaup from those who stayed home and at the same time compensated those who went to the thing, and it cannot be seen whether they had any profit from these transactions.
- 1988, Jesse L. Byock, Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power, page 59:
- All Icelandic things were skap-thing, meaning that they were governed by established procedure and met at regular legally designated intevals at predetermined meeting places.
- (informal) A romantic relationship.
- 2020, David Gomadza, EVELINA: The Alpha:
- I can screw you in front of everyone. I don't care, we have a thing going on, you know. I love you,” she said.
- (informal) A romantic couple.
- Are John and Jennifer a thing again? I thought they broke up.
- (MLE) Alternative form of ting.
- (MLE) Girl; attractive woman.
- Look at the nyash on that thing!
Synonyms
- (referent that can be used to refer to any entity): item, stuff (uncountable equivalent), yoke (Ireland)
- (penis): see Thesaurus:penis
- (personal preference): see Thesaurus:predilection
Derived terms
- a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
- a little learning is a dangerous thing
- all good things come to an end
- all good things must come to an end
- all things being equal
- all things come to those who wait
- all things considered
- all things to all men
- all things to all people
- a mind is a terrible thing to waste
- among other things
- and another thing
- any old thing
- anything
- a thing or two
- bad things come in threes
- be another thing
- be a thing
- be one thing
- best thing since sliced bread
- best thing since sliced pan
- big things come in small packages
- bright young thing
- by the looks of things
- chance'd be a fine thing
- chance would be a fine thing
- close thing
- cute girls doing cute things
- done thing
- do one's own thing
- do one's thing
- do the decent thing
- do the handsome thing
- do the right thing
- everything
- finer things
- first thing
- first things first
- for another thing
- for one thing
- good thing
- good things come in small packages
- good things come in threes
- good things come to those who wait
- grand scheme of things
- greatest thing since sliced bread
- have another thing coming
- have a thing
- hear things
- here's the thing
- how are things
- how's every little thing
- how's things
- if it's not one thing it's another
- if it's the last thing I do
- internet of things
- in the nature of things
- in the swim of things
- just one of those things
- last big thing
- last thing
- last thing one needs
- living thing
- main thing
- make a big thing out of
- man is the measure of all things
- minor thing
- near thing
- next big thing
- next thing one knows
- no such thing
- nothing
- of all things
- one of those things
- one thing after another
- one thing leads to another
- one thing led to another
- over-things
- real thing
- render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's
- scheme of things
- see things
- show someone a thing or two
- soft thing
- something
- spell things out
- sure thing
- sweet young thing
- swing of things
- tea-things
- that's the thing
- the best things in life are free
- the best things in life aren't things
- there ain't no such thing as a free lunch
- there is no such thing as bad press
- there is no such thing as bad publicity
- there's no such thing as a free lunch
- there's no such thing as a stupid question
- these things happen
- the shape of things to come
- the thing
- the thing is
- the thing of it
- the way things are going
- they're only after one thing
- thick of things
- thingal
- thingamajig
- thinger
- thinghood
- thing-in-itself
- thing is
- thinglike
- thingly
- thingness
- thingo
- thing of nothing
- thing of the past
- things that go bump in the night
- thing theory
- thingy
- this is why we can't have nice things
- this, that, and the other thing
- throw things at the wall and see what sticks
- time heals all things
- too much of a good thing
- unthing
- vision thing
- wild thing
- worse things happen at sea
Related terms
Translations
that which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept
| ||||
word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity
|
individual object or distinct entity
|
law: corporeal object
clothes, possessions or equipment
problem, dilemma, or complicating factor
the central point; the crux
penis
living being or creature
situation surrounding a noun's referent
personal preference — see also preference
|
historical: public assembly or judicial council
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading
- “thing”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “thing”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Verb
thing (third-person singular simple present things, present participle thinging, simple past and past participle thinged)
Anagrams
Etymology
From Proto-Kuki-Chin *thiŋ, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *siŋ. Cognates include Mizo thing and Zou sing.
Pronunciation
Noun
thing
References
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English þing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą.
Noun
thing (plural thinges)
Descendants
References
- “thing, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *siŋ. Akin to Khumi Chin thing.
Noun
thing
References
- Matisoff, James A., Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman, University of California Press.
Pronunciation
Noun
thing
- Alternative form of ding
Declension
| case | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | thing | thing |
| accusative | thing | thing |
| genitive | thinges | thingo |
| dative | thinge | thingum |
| instrumental | thingu | — |
Declension of thing (neuter a-stem)
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *þing. Compare Old Dutch thing, Old Frisian thing, Old English þing, Old High German ding, Old Norse þing.
Noun
thing n
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | thing | thing |
| accusative | thinges | thinge |
| genitive | thing | thing |
| dative | thingo | thingum |
| instrumental | — | — |
Declension of thing (irregular)
Descendants
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