it

Meanings

1. 1
   pron

   Used to refer to a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned

   Take this book and put it on the shelf.

2. 2
   pron

   Used as the subject of a sentence about time, weather, or distance

   It is nearly ten o'clock.

3. 3
   pron

   Used to refer to a baby or young child whose gender is not known

   She held the baby and rocked it gently to sleep.

4. 4
   pron

   Used to identify a person, especially on the phone

   It's me, John.

From Middle English it, hit ( > dialectal English hit (“it”)), from Old English hit (“it”), from Proto-West Germanic *hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“here; here”). Cognates Cognate with Yola it, t', yt (“it”), North Frisian at, et, 't (“it”), Saterland Frisian et (“it”), West Frisian it (“it”), Dutch het (“it”), Luxembourgish hatt (“her, it, she”), Elfdalian eð (“it”); also Primitive Irish ᚕᚑᚔ (koi, “here”), Latin cis (“short of; before”), hic (“this”), Greek εκείνος (ekeínos, “that; those”). Compare Cimbrian es, is, 's, 'z (“it”), German es, 's…

Topics