Everything
/ˈɛv.ri.θɪŋ/noun
All things; the totality of what exists or is involved.
Did you know?The word comes from Old English *æfre þing* / *ælc þing* patterns of totality, with *thing* originally meaning not just an object but an assembly, matter, or affair—so English once used the same root for both “a thing” and “a legal matter.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tenk-
“to stretch, extend, or draw out (the source of the Germanic word for “thing” as a stated matter or assembly).”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*þingą
“an assembly, meeting, or public matter.”
Old English
OE
ǣfre ǣlc þing
“each thing ever; every matter or object.”
Middle English
ME
every thing
“all things, each and every item.”
Modern English
English
everything
“all things collectively; the whole amount or totality.”