it
Part of speech: pron
adj
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English it, hit ( > dialectal English hit (“it”)), from Old English hit (“it”), from Proto-West Germanic *hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“here; here”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola it, t', yt (“it”), North Frisian at, et, 't (“it”), Saterland Frisian et (“it”), West Frisian it (“it”), Dutch het (“it”), Luxembourgish hatt (“her, it, she”), Elfdalian eð (“it”); also Primitive Irish ᚕᚑᚔ (koi, “here”), Latin cis (“short of; before”), hic (“this”), Greek εκείνος (ekeínos, “that; those”). Compare Cimbrian es, is, 's, 'z (“it”), German es, 's (“it, there”), Mòcheno and Vilamovian s (“it”), Yiddish עס (es, “it”), Faroese ið (“that, which, who”), Gothic 𐌹𐍄𐌰 (ita, “it”), which instead descends from Proto-Germanic *it (“it”). More at he.
Inflected forms:
form: it
pos: pron
tags: objective
subjective
form: itself
pos: pron
tags: emphatic
reflexive
form: its
pos: pron
tags: determiner
possessive
pronoun
without-noun
form: his
pos: pron
tags: determiner
obsolete
possessive
pronoun
without-noun
form: they
pos: pron
tags: plural
subjective
form: them
pos: pron
tags: objective
plural
form: hit
pos: pron
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: i'
pos: pron
tags: alternative
colloquial
form: itt
pos: pron
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: 't
pos: pron
tags: alternative
archaic
pronunciation-spelling
form: hit
pos: adj
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: i'
pos: adj
tags: alternative
colloquial
form: itt
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: 't
pos: adj
tags: alternative
archaic
pronunciation-spelling
Senses:
gloss: The third-person singular neuter personal pronoun used to refer to an inanimate object, abstract entity, or non-human living thing.
pos: pron
examples: Take this book and put it on the shelf.
Take each day as it comes.
I found a poor little cat. It seems to be half starving.
It is not a pen. It is a book.
The Nansi District was formerly known as the "Jiaba Community", and was one of the early territories of the Taivoan, as well as where the Zou resided. Later, due to the invasion of the Siraya tribe, the community members later migrated out to regions such as Gongguan, Paoziliao (Kaohsiung County), and Daciouyuan. During the time of the Japanese occupation, because of its location at the west of the "Nanzihsian River", it was therefore renamed Nansi ("si" meaning "west"). A village and village hall were established here, under the governance of Sinhua District of Tainan Province. After the war in 1945, it was renamed Nansi Township, and was changed to Nansi District after the merging of Tainan City and County on December 25th, 2010.
gloss: A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to a baby or child, especially of unknown gender.
pos: pron
examples: She took the baby and held it in her arms.
A child cannot quarrel with its elders, as I had done; cannot give its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine, without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction.
I could only encourage Mrs. Clements to speak next of Anne's early days […] "There was nobody else, sir, to take the little helpless creature in hand," replied Mrs. Clements. "The wicked mother seemed to hate it—as if the poor baby was in fault!—from the day it was born. My heart was heavy for the child, and I made the offer to bring it up as tenderly as if it was my own."
"Did Anne remain entirely under your care from that time?"
"Not quite entirely, sir. Mrs. Catherick had her whims and fancies about it at times, and used now and then to lay claim to the child, as if she wanted to spite me for bringing it up.
The sky was dripping. Like a tap that a child has tried its hardest to turn off but hasn't quite managed.
gloss: A third-person singular pronoun used to refer to an unspecified person.
pos: pron
tags: rare
examples: All these things inclined her, step by step, to submit to the new discovery, whether Queen Victoria's or another's, that each man and each woman has another allotted to it for life, whom it supports, by whom it is supported, till death them do part.
She had never seen that each human being was different, would react differently, had its own peculiar idiosyncrasies.
gloss: An affectionate third-person singular personal pronoun.
pos: pron
tags: obsolete
examples: "[…] It's my belief that you don't know your own mind."
"I don't, dear," said Hulda, nestling to him.
"Why, what a puss it is!" cried Sir Philip, kissing her tenderly.
1897, Olive Pratt Rayner (Grant Allen), The Type-Writer Girl
She caught my eye, and laughed. “What a funny girl it is!” she cried. “You are so comical! But it isn't the least use your trying to frighten me. I can see the twinkle in your big black eyes; and I like you in spite of your trying to be horrid. Do you know, I liked you from the first moment I saw you.”
WILLIAM: You don't like me better?
CLARA: Indeed I do.
WILLIAM (laughing): Well, what a dear girl it is.
CLARA (flinging her arms around his neck with suddenly disclosed passion): Oh, I do love you!
gloss: A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an animate referent who is transgender or non-binary.
pos: pron
tags: derogatory
offensive
examples: 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
Next morning bought her [a drag queen] breakfast & she asked for a couple dollars to get a drink. Gave her $3, walked her to a bar. […] Some teenage boys watched us walking & began shouting. When I left her at the bar door & kissed her goodbye, they began shouting "Ugh! You kissed it!!"
"Oh, don't be silly. I am neither male nor female. I'm a farfel." […] "It. Refer to me as an it."
"That seems pretty rude," I said nervously.
"Not as rude as calling me a he or a she," it said.
The individual known as Maia Arson Crimew was born as Tillie Kottmann on 7 August 1999 in Lucerne, Switzerland. Kottmann/Crimew has expressed on its website a desire to be referred to by ‘it’ pronouns (Crimew 2021), so this article will interchangeably refer to it by its preferred terms as either ‘Maia Arson Crimew’ or ‘it’.
Crimew is a well-known figure among hacking and cybersecurity circles. It has either taken credit for or been attributed to hacks from several major multinational corporations, including […]
gloss: Refers to someone being identified, often on the phone, but not limited to this situation.
pos: pron
examples: It's me, John.
Somebody wanted a drink, didn't they? Who was it?
It is I, your king.
gloss: The impersonal pronoun, used without referent as the subject of an impersonal verb or statement (known as the dummy pronoun, dummy it or weather it).
pos: pron
examples: It is nearly 10 o’clock.
It’s 10:45.
It’s very cold today.
It’s lonely here without you.
It seems so.
It blew all night.
gloss: The impersonal pronoun, used without referent, or with unstated but contextually implied referent, in various short idioms or expressions.
pos: pron
examples: rough it
live it up
stick it out
gloss: The impersonal pronoun, used without referent, or with unstated but contextually implied referent, in various short idioms or expressions.
pos: pron
examples: After all these years, she still has it.
Later that night, a friend told Brady, “Still got it.” “Never lost it,” he replied. THAT WAS MOSTLY TRUE. But the 2013 season ended with the Patriots coaches wondering whether Brady's skills were in a subtle but irrevocable decline […]
gloss: The impersonal pronoun, used without referent, or with unstated but contextually implied referent, in various short idioms or expressions.
pos: pron
examples: I caught them doing it.
Are you getting it regularly?
Is man really the only animal who does "it" face to face?
The great advantage of English public school life lies of course in the quality of tutelage it provides. Adrian had received a decent and broad English education in the area of his loins. […] He had quickly happened upon the truth which many lonely contemporaries would never discover, the truth that everybody, simply everybody, was panting for it and could, with patience, be shown that they were panting for it. So Adrian grabbed what was to hand and had the time of his life genitally – focusing exclusively on his own gender of course, for this was 1973 and girls had not yet been invented.
gloss: Sex appeal, especially that which goes beyond physical appearance.
pos: pron
tags: uncountable
examples: 'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walked down a street
And she had It. It, hell; she had Those.
gloss: The impersonal pronoun, used as a placeholder for a delayed subject, or less commonly, object; known as the dummy pronoun (according to some definitions), anticipatory it or, more formally in linguistics, a syntactic expletive. The delayed subject is commonly a to-infinitive, a gerund, or a noun clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction.
pos: pron
examples: It’s not worth talking to you.
It is easy to see how she would think that.
"I know now!" said I. "I have seen this in your face a long while."
"No; have you really, my dear?" said he. "What a Dame Durden it is to read a face!"
It was felt that I'd be the right man for the job.
I find it odd that you would say that.
It is hard seeing you so sick.
He saw to it that everyone would vote for him.
It is not clear if the report was true.
She made it clear what she expected by the weekend, which made it a problem to juggle her and other customers' jobs at the same time.
gloss: All or the end; something after which there is no more.
pos: pron
examples: Are there more students in this class, or is this it?
That's it—I'm not going to any more candy stores with you.
gloss: Followed by an omitted and understood relative pronoun: That which; what.
pos: pron
tags: obsolete
examples: In briefe, I am content, and what should providence add more? Surely this is it [= it which] wee call Happinesse, and this doe I enjoy [...].
gloss: Most fashionable, popular, or in vogue.
pos: adj
tags: colloquial
not-comparable
examples: Going away for the weekend and feel the need to profile en route? This is the "it" bag.
With Hit Girl, Moretz is this year's It Girl, alternately sweet, savage and scary.
These Italian made sneakers quickly became an it shoe and the trend is not going anywhere any time soon!
(Our culture's “it”-novelist, Sally Rooney, is instead tellingly God-obsessed.)
Derived words: aliensdidit
anticipatory it
any way one slices it
Bumpit
buy it
damnit
do it
dummy it
evolutiondidit
flooddidit
for it
FSMdidit
go at it
goddidit
goshdangit
goshdarnit
it is said
itness
keep it real
know-it-all
move it
preparatory it
Satandidit
stick-at-itiveness
that's it
tiswas
watch it
whatchacallit
Translations:
lang: Dutch
word: het
lang: Dutch
word: ze
lang: Dutch
word: hem
lang: French
word: il
lang: French
word: ça
lang: Galician
word: el
lang: German
word: es
lang: Latin
word: id
lang: Latin
word: illud
lang: Latin
word: hoc
lang: Low German
word: et
lang: Low German
word: het
lang: Swedish
word: det
lang: Dutch
word: het
lang: French
word: ce
lang: French
word: ça
lang: French
word: cela
lang: Galician
word: el
lang: Latin
word: id
lang: Latin
word: illud
lang: Latin
word: hoc