Etymologically
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anything

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 14 October 2026 at 22:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈen.i.θɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English anything, also enything,[2] inherited from Old English ǣniġ þing,[2][3] a compound of ǣniġ (“any”) and þing (“thing”),[2] that is, any and thing.[4][3] It was written as two words at first.[3] The adverb continues Old English ǣniġe þinga (“to any extent”), an instrumental form of the same phrase,[2] which also glossed Latin quoquo modo (“in whatever way”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In any measure, to any extent, as an adverb (Old English, about 700).[5]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun, “any thing whatever”, is recorded from about 1000,[5] and the noun use, “a thing of any kind”, from 1596 in Shakespeare (“my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything”).[2][5] The phrase anything but, “by no means, the very reverse”, is from 1805–6.[5] Colloquial intensifying phrases include like anything and as … as anything (clear as anything).[3][6]

Timeline

  • c. 700 – adverb, to any extent.[5]
  • c. 1000 – pronoun, any thing whatever.[5]
  • 1596 – noun, a thing of any kind (Shakespeare).[2][5]
  • 1805–6 – anything but.[5]

Modern meaning

Pronoun

  1. Any object, event or matter at all: anything might happen.

Noun

  1. Something or someone of importance.

Adverb

  1. In any way; at all: not anything like her parents.

Usage notes

Anything but means “not at all” (anything but happy), and anything goes means that anything is permitted.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins