thing

English Online Dictionary. What means thing‎? What does thing mean?

English

Alternative forms

• thang (slang, pronunciation spelling, usually used to denote a known fad or popular activity)
• thin' (informal, pronunciation spelling)
• thinge (archaic)
• thynge (obsolete)
• ting (Caribbean creoles, MLE)

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”).

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

• enPR: thĭng, IPA^(key): /θɪŋ/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /tɪŋ/
  • (Local Dublin) IPA^(key): /tɪn/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /θɪŋ(ɡ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Noun

thing (plural things)

1. That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.
2. A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.
3. An individual object or distinct entity.
4. (law)
   1. Whatever can be owned.
   2. Corporeal object.
5. (in the plural) Possessions or equipment; stuff; gear.

6. (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.
7. (informal) A custom or practice.

9. (informal) A genuine concept, entity or phenomenon; something that actually exists (often contrary to expectation or belief). [from 20th c.]
10. (informal) A unit or container, usually containing consumable goods.
11. (informal) A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor.

12. (informal, with the) The central point; the crux.

13. (slang) A penis.
14. A living being or creature.

15. Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent.
    • 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)

16. (informal, used possessively) That which is favoured; personal preference.
    • 2002, Joss Whedon et al, "Never Leave Me", Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV episode):

    • 2006, Corbin Bleu, interview with Tigerbeat magazine:

17. (informal, used possessively, with "do") One's typical routine, habits, or manner.
    • 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.

18. (chiefly historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country.
    • 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.
19. (informal) A romantic relationship.
20. (informal) A romantic couple.

21. (MLE) Alternative form of ting.
22. (MLE) Girl; attractive woman.

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

Related terms

• diminutives: thingy / thingie, thingo [Aus]

Translations

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)

1. (rare) To express as a thing; to reify.

Anagrams

• Night, night

Khumi Chin

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *thiŋ, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *siŋ. Cognates include Mizo thing and Zou sing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʰĩ˥/

Noun

thing

1. firewood

References

• K. E. Herr (2011) The phonological interpretation of minor syllables, applied to Lemi Chin‎^[1], Payap University, page 44

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thinge, thyng

Etymology

From Old English þing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą.

Noun

thing (plural thinges)

1. thing

Descendants

• English: thing
• Scots: thing, ting, hing
• Yola: dhing

References

• “thing, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Mizo

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *siŋ. Akin to Khumi Chin thing.

Noun

thing

1. tree
2. wood
3. firewood

References

• Matisoff, James A., Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman, University of California Press.

Old High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ðinɡ/

Noun

thing

1. Alternative form of ding

Declension

Old Saxon

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

1. thing, object
2. matter, case

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: dinc, dink, tink
  • German Low German: Ding
  • Plautdietsch: Dinkj