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item

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈaɪ.təm/[1]

Etymology

It was first an adverb, borrowed from Latin item (“likewise, just so, moreover”),[2][3][4] probably influenced by Old French item,[3] probably from ita “thus” and the adverbial ending -tem, compare id “it” and idem “the same”.[2][3][4] It is related to id and identity.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adverb, “likewise, also, moreover”, used to introduce each article in a list: 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew.[3][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Because it stood before each article of an inventory or bill, it became a noun:[2][7][8] a statement or maxim introduced by item from 1561,[6][3] and an article or unit in a list from 1578,[6][3] the 1570s in Etymonline.[2] Shakespeare's Olivia mocks this use in Twelfth Night, listing “item, two lips, indifferent red”.[9] A detail of news, especially in a newspaper, is from 1819.[2][6] In computing, a unit of data, it is from 1954.[6] An item, a couple romantically linked, is from 1970, perhaps from being an item in the gossip columns.[2] The verb item, to set down item by item, is from 1601 and was replaced by itemize, from 1864.[3][6]

Timeline

  • 1398 – adverb, likewise.[3][6]
  • 1561 – a maxim.[6][3]
  • 1578 – an article in a list.[6][3]
  • 1601 – verb.[6]
  • 1819 – a news item.[2][6]
  • 1864 – itemize.[3]
  • 1954 – in computing.[6]
  • 1970 – a romantic couple.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A single article or unit in a collection, list or series.
  2. An entry in an account or a clause of a document.
  3. A piece of information; a short piece of news: a news item.
  4. (informal) A couple in a romantic relationship.

Adverb

  1. (archaic) Also, likewise; used to introduce each article in a list.

Word family

  • itemization
  • itemize
  • itemise
  • subitem
  • line item
  • line-item veto

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 g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press