different between anything vs nothing

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n.i.???/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /?æ.ni.???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??.n?.???/, /??.ni.???/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /??.n?.???/
• Hyphenation: an?y?thing

Etymology 1

From Middle English anything, enything, onything, from Late Old English aniþing, from earlier ?ni? þing (literally “any thing”), equivalent to any +? thing.

Pronoun

anything

1. Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; a thing of any kind; something or other.

   Synonym: aught
2. (with “as” or “like”) Expressing an indefinite comparison.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

anything (plural anythings)

1. Someone or something of importance.

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English anything, enything, onything, onythynge, from Old English ?ni?e þinga, ?n?i þinga (literally “by any of things”), from ?ni?e, instrumental form of ?ni? (“any”) + þinga, genitive plural of þing (“thing”).

Adverb

anything (not comparable)

1. In any way, any extent or any degree.

   That isn't anything like a car.

   She's not anything like as strong as me.

References

• anything in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Thingyan

English

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard) nuffin, nuffink, nuttin', nuthin, nuthin', nuthing, nothin'

Etymology

From Middle English nothyng, noon thing, non thing, na þing, nan thing, nan þing, from Old English n?þing, n?n þing (“nothing”, literally “not any thing”), equivalent to no +? thing. Compare Old English n?wiht (“nothing”, literally “no thing”), Swedish ingenting (“nothing”, literally “not any thing, no thing”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?th'?ng, IPA^(key): /?n????/
• Rhymes: -????
• Hyphenation: noth?ing
• Rhymes: -??

Pronoun

nothing (indefinite pronoun)

1. Not any thing; no thing.
2. An absence of anything, including empty space, brightness, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.

Synonyms

• (not any thing):
  • (standard): not a thing, naught
  • (slang): jack, nada, zip, zippo, zilch, squat, nix
  • (vulgar slang): bugger all, jack shit, sod all (British), fuck all, dick
  • (Northern English dialect): nowt

See Thesaurus:nothing

• (something trifling): nothing of any consequence, nothing consequential, nothing important, nothing significant, something inconsequential, something insignificant, something of no consequence, something trifling, something unimportant

Antonyms

• anything
• everything
• something

Translations

Noun

nothing (countable and uncountable, plural nothings)

1. Something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.

   - What happened to your face?
   - It's nothing.

   • 1673, Jeremy Taylor, Heniaytos: A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year […]

     Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths.
2. A trivial remark (especially in the term sweet nothings).
3. A nobody (insignificant person).

   You're nothing to me now!

Translations

Adverb

nothing (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Not at all; in no way.

Derived terms

Related terms

Coordinate terms

• nobody, no one
• nowhere

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “nothing”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN