thing

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An object that is not named exactly.

   What is that thing on the table?

2. 2
   noun

   An action, event, or situation.

   A funny thing happened on the way home.

3. 3
   noun

   A fact, idea, or quality being talked about.

   The thing I liked most about the book was its ending.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Thing comes from Old English, where it first meant “a meeting” or “assembly,” especially a court or council. Its meaning developed from a matter brought before such a court to “a concern” or “affair,” and then broadened to the general modern senses.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tenk-? Proto-Indo-European *tenkóm Proto-Germanic *þingą Proto-West Germanic *þing Old English þing Middle English thing English thing 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”). The word originally meant "assembl…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary