different between something vs nothing

English

Alternative forms

• somthing (obsolete)
• sumn (eye dialect, AAVE)

Etymology

From Middle English somthing, some-thing, som thing, sum thinge, sum þinge, from Old English sum þing (literally “some thing”), equivalent to some +? thing. Compare Old English ?wiht (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”), Swedish någonting (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s?m???/, [?s?m???]
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s?m???/, [?s?n????], (sometimes reduced to [?s?(m)?m?] or [?s?????], or even monosyllabically to [s???] or [s???])
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?sam???/, [?säm???]
• Hyphenation: some?thing

Pronoun

something (indefinite pronoun)

1. An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.

   Synonym: (especially in dictionaries) sth
2. (colloquial, of someone or something) A quality to a moderate degree.
3. (colloquial, of a person) A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.

   Synonym: je ne sais quoi

4. (colloquial, often with really or quite) Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way.

Derived terms

• somethingth
• up to something

Related terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: samting
• ? Korean: ?? (sseomting)

Translations

Adjective

something (not comparable)

1. Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.

Adverb

something (not comparable)

1. (degree) Somewhat; to a degree.

2. (degree, colloquial) To a high degree.

Derived terms

Verb

something (third-person singular simple present somethings, present participle somethinging, simple past and past participle somethinged)

1. Applied to 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 [2]

     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. [3]

     She hovers over the something somethinging and awkwardly lowers her bulk.

   • 2005, Floyd Skloot, A World of Light [4]

     “Oh how we somethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. Dear, was I ever on the stage?”

Noun

something (plural somethings)

1. An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
2. 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 [5]

     What was the something the pilot saw, the something worth killing for?

   • 2004, Theron Q Dumont, The Master Mind [6]

     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 [7]

     She wiped something with a cloth, wiped at the wall shelf, and put the something on it, clinking glass.

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