English

anything

/ˈɛn.ɪ.θɪŋ/
Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatsoever; a thing of any kind; something or other.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English anything, enything, onything, from Late Old English aniþing, from earlier ǣniġ þing (literally “any thing”), equivalent to any + thing.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English anything, enything, onything, onythynge, from Old English ǣniġe þinga, ǣnġi þinga (literally “by any of things”), from ǣniġe, instrumental form of ǣniġ (“any”) + þinga, genitive plural of þing (“thing”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishanything
      • inheritedOld Englishaniþing
        • partOld Englishǣniġ
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*ainag
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*ainagaz
        • partOld Englishþing
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*þing
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*þingą
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*tenkóm
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*tenk- “to succeed, turn out well”
      • inheritedOld Englishǣniġe þinga
        • partOld Englishǣniġe
        • partOld Englishþinga
    • surface analysisEnglishany “To even the slightest extent; at all.”
    • surface analysisEnglishthing “That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.”

    Sources