thing
n. countablen. an object, an idea, or an action that you do not name specifically. You can also use it to talk about a trend or a common habit.
n. an inanimate object, an abstract entity, or a specific action or event. In contemporary informal usage, it refers to a recognized trend, obsession, or social phenomenon.
What is that thing on the table?
I have a few things to finish at the office before I can meet you for dinner.
The witness struggled to describe the physical thing she saw in the shadows, yet her conviction about its presence remained unshaken throughout the cross-examination.
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 "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.
Frequently used as a placeholder for more specific nouns; in informal contexts, 'a thing' can mean a legitimate or established phenomenon.