plaything C2+ Topic:People & Society US /ˈpleɪˌθɪŋ/ UK /ˈpleɪˌθɪŋ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a toy, or a person or thing treated as an object of amusement She refused to be treated as anyone's plaything. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a toy, or a person or thing... toytrinketbaubleamusementgadgetdoll Word family Related forms play Etymology AI details Compound of play (Old English plega 'play, sport') + thing (Old English thing 'object, matter'). plega Old English þing Old English View etymology graph -> Topics People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # plaything **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈpleɪˌθɪŋ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈpleɪˌθɪŋ/ ## Meanings 1. a toy, or a person or thing treated as an object of amusement ## Examples - She refused to be treated as anyone's plaything. ## Synonyms - toy - trinket - bauble - amusement - gadget - doll ## Related Forms - play ## Roots and Affixes - Root: plega - Root: þing ## Etymology Compound of play (Old English plega 'play, sport') + thing (Old English thing 'object, matter'). ## AI Etymology Plaything is compound of play (Old English plega 'play, sport') + thing (Old English thing 'object, matter'). Important recorded forms include plega (Old English) and þing (Old English). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers a toy, or a person or thing treated as an object of amusement. The wider family includes related words such as play. ## Topics - People & Society - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown