Etymologically
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everything

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

  • IPA: /ˈev.ri.θɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It comes from the Middle English phrase every thing,[2][3] a compound, from English every + thing,[4][5] long written as two words.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

All things, all (about 1225).[6]

Semantic evolution

The HTOED dates the word from about 1225, while Etymonline and the OED give the late 14th century.[6][4][7] As in anything, something and nothing, the element thing has lost its separate meaning.[7] Etymonline defines the early sense as “all things, taken separately”.[4] The colloquial use for something of supreme importance (money isn't everything) is recorded by 1889,[4][7] and to have everything, “to have every attraction or advantage”, from 1845.[7] A humorous plural noun, everythings, appears from 1797.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – all things.[6]
  • c. 1385 – the OED's first quotation.[7]
  • 1797 – noun, things of every kind (humorous).[7]
  • 1845 – to have everything.[7]
  • 1889 – something of supreme importance.[4]

Modern meaning

Pronoun

  1. All things, or all the things of a group.
  2. All that is relevant: told each other everything.
  3. The most important thing: money isn't everything.
  4. Life in general: how's everything?

Word family

  • theory of everything

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  7. ^ 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