This Adventure in Etymology is an assembly of words about the word thing, or something like that. Meanings of thing [θɪŋ] include: That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity. An individual object or distinct entity. It comes from Middle English thing (thing, substance, object), from Old English þing (thing, matter, concern, event, meeting, court, case, reason, means), from Proto-West Germanic *þing (court, session, lawsuit, affair, matter, thing, object) from Proto-Germanic *þingą (time, date, meeting, assembly, council, case, matter, issue), from Proto-Indo-European *tenk-ó-, from *tenk- (to be suitable) [source]. So, its meaning changed from being suitable, to a suitable or scheduled time, to an assembly, to a specific issue discussed at an assembly, to issues, objects or things in general. Which is quite something. There are related words in other Germanic languages that also mean thing, and other things. For example, ding (matter, thing) in Dutch [source] (and Afrikaans), Ding (thing, girl, boy) in German [source], and Déngen (thing, object) in Luxembourgish [source].