It
Pronunciation
- stressed enPR: Ät, IPA: /ɪt/
- dialectal IPA: /ɪt̚ʔ/, /ɪʔ/
- Rhymes: -ɪt
- unstressed enPR: ət, IPA: /ət/
- Homophones: at unstressed
Origin 1
Alternative forms
- (dialectal) hit
From Middle English, from Old English hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit ("this, this one"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- ("this, here"). Cognate with West Frisian it ("it"), Low German it ("it"), Dutch het ("it"), German es ("it"). More at he.
Alternative forms
- itt obsolete
Full definition of it
Pronoun
it
(subjective and objective case - reflexive and intensiveitself - possessive adjective and- The third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an inanimate object, to an inanimate thing with no or unknown sex or gender.Put it over there.Take each day as it comes.
- The third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an animate entity of unknown gender.She took the baby and held it in her arms.
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter IV: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.
- Used to refer to oneself when identifying oneself, often on the phone, but not limited to this situation.It's me. John.
- The impersonal pronoun, used without referent as the subject of an impersonal verb or statement. (known as the dummy pronoun or weather it)It is nearly 10 o’clock.It’s very cold today.It’s lonely without you.
- The impersonal pronoun, used as a placeholder for a delayed subject, or less commonly, object. (known as the dummy pronoun or, more formally in linguistics, a syntactic expletive)It is easy to see how she would think that.I find it odd that you would say that.He saw to it that everyone would vote for him.
- (obsolete, relative) That which; what.
- 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II.2:In briefe, I am content, and what should providence add more? Surely this is it wee call Happinesse, and this doe I enjoy ....
Derived terms
Noun
it
(plural its)- One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being.
- 1995, Neil Weiner, Sharon E. Robinson Kurpius, Shattered innocence (page 8)Too often, children become an "it" in their homes and their humanness is devalued.
- 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1His master glanced up quickly, and removed the letter from his hands. "I'm surprised at you, James," he remarked severely. "A secretary should control itself. Don't forget that the perfect secretary is an it: an automatic machine—a thing incapable of feeling.…"
- The person who chases and tries to catch the other players in the playground game of tag.In the next game, Adam and Tom will be it…
- 2000, Katherine T. Thomas, Amelia M. Lee, Jerry R. Thomas, Physical education for children (page 464)When there are only two children left who haven't been tagged, I will stop the game, and we will start over with those children starting as the Its.
- (British, uncountable) The game of tag.Let's play it at breaktime.
Adjective
it
- (colloquial) most fashionable.
- Vibe, Vol. 15, No. 9, p. 202, September 2007:Going away for the weekend and feel the need to profile en route? This is the "it" bag.
- David Germain, Hilarious ‘Kick-Ass’ delivers bloody fun, Associated Press, 2010:With Hit Girl, Moretz is this year's It Girl, alternately sweet, savage and scary.