something

== English == === Alternative forms === somthing (obsolete) sumthing (eye dialect) somethang, sumfin, sumfin', sumn, sumpin, sumting, sumthang, sumfink (pronunciation spelling) sth, sth., sthg, smtg, smth, smtn (abbreviation) === Etymology === From Middle English somþyng, some-thing, som thing, sum thinge, sum þinge, from Old English sum þing (literally “some thing”), equivalent to some +‎ thing. Compare Old English āwiht (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”), Swedish någonting (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”). === Pronunciation === enPR: sŭmʹthĭng, IPA(key): /ˈsʌm.θɪŋ/ (UK, General Australian) IPA(key): [ˈsɐm(p)θɪŋ] (US) IPA(key): [ˈsʌm(p)θɪŋ], [ˈsʌn̪θɪŋ] (sometimes reduced to [ˈsʌ(m)ʔm̩] or [ˈsʌɾ̃ɪŋ], or even monosyllabically to [sʌ̃ː] or [sʌˑɪŋ]) (New Zealand) IPA(key): [ˈsɐm(p)θəŋ] (Ireland) IPA(key): /ˈsʊm.t̪ɪŋ/ (Dublin) IPA(key): /ˈsʊm.tɪn/, /ˈsʊm.tɪŋ/ Hyphenation: some‧thing Rhymes: -ɪŋ === Pronoun === something (indefinite pronoun) An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing. Synonym: (especially in dictionaries) sth She looked thirty-something. (anything from thirty-one to thirty-nine years old) (colloquial, of someone or something) A quality to a moderate degree. (colloquial, of a person) A talent or quality that is difficult to specify. Synonym: je ne sais quoi (colloquial, often with really or quite) Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== Tok Pisin: samting → Korean: 썸팅 (sseomting) ==== Translations ==== === Adjective === something (not comparable) Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify. === Adverb === something (not comparable) (degree) Somewhat; to a degree. (colloquial, especially in certain set combinations) Used to adverbialise a following adjective I miss them something terrible/rotten. (I miss them terribly) ==== Derived terms ==== === Verb === something (third-person singular simple present somethings, present participle somethinging, simple past and past participle somethinged) (colloquial) Designates an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song. 1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes [4] He didn’t apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it was somethinged—vetoed, I believe she said. 2003, George Angel, “Allegoady,” in Juncture, Lara Stapleton and Veronica Gonzalez edd. [5] She hovers over the something somethinging and awkwardly lowers her bulk. 2005, Floyd Skloot, A World of Light [6] “Oh how we somethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. Dear, was I ever on the stage?” === Noun === something (plural somethings) An object whose nature is yet to be defined. An object whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g., from words of a song. Also used to refer to an object earlier indefinitely referred to as 'something' (pronoun sense). 1999, Nicholas Clapp, The Road to Ubar [7] What was the something the pilot saw, the something worth killing for? 2004, Theron Q Dumont, The Master Mind [8] Moreover, in all of our experience with these sense impressions, we never lose sight of the fact that they are but incidental facts of our mental existence, and that there is a Something Within which is really the Subject of these sense reports—a Something to which these reports are presented, and which receives them. 2004, Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives [9] She wiped something with a cloth, wiped at the wall shelf, and put the something on it, clinking glass. ==== Translations ====