it

Less common meanings

5. 5
   identifying someonepronoun

   Used to refer to a person who is being identified, often on the phone, as when saying who is calling or asking who someone was.

   When the phone rang at midnight, I knew it was my brother before I even picked up.

   The voice on the intercom said, “It's Maria from upstairs.”

   UsageEveryday speech follows it with me, her, him: it's me. It is I sounds very formal.

6. 6
   that's allpronoun

   Used to mean everything there is, or the end of something, with nothing more to follow.

   We waited three hours for the band, and they played four songs. That was it.

   I packed two shirts, a toothbrush and a paperback, and that was it.

   UsageMostly that's it or is this it?; said sharply, that's it means patience has run out.

7. 7
   game of tagnoun

   In the playground game of tag, the player who chases the others and tries to catch one of them.

   Whoever is it has to count to twenty before chasing anyone.

   Maya was it for most of recess because she couldn't catch anyone.

   UsageAfter be: you're it, who's it?

   Note

   Writers often capitalize it or set it in quotation marks to mark that role, and a game with several chasers has several Its. The role carries over to hiding games too: in hi-spy, the seeker hunting for the hiders was "it". Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • In hi-spy, the player seeking the hidden players was called “it”. en.wikisource.org
8. 8
   special skillpronoun

   Used, especially after have or got, to mean a special quality that makes someone stand out, such as talent, success, star quality or sex appeal.

   The veteran pitcher struck out the side in the ninth, proving he still has it.

   Plenty of bands can play, but this one has it, and the crowd wouldn't let them leave.

   Note

   The proud reply to still got it, never lost it, shows the other side, where losing it means losing the gift, not one's temper. Long used as a word for sex appeal, it can also mean any knack at all, from pitching to songwriting. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The exchange ‘Still got it’ / ‘Never lost it’ is attested as a reference to retained ability. en.wiktionary.org
   • ‘It’ has a long history as a term for sex appeal. silentfilm.org
9. 9
   sexpronoun

   Used, especially in do it, to refer to sexual intercourse or other sexual activity that is implied rather than named.

   Researchers asked couples how often they did it and how satisfied they felt.

   The sitcom's running joke is that the neighbors can hear them doing it through the wall.

   UsageMostly in do it, so context decides which meaning is intended.

   Note

   Nothing is named, so the phrase works as a polite cover in speech, and in print it is sometimes set in quotation marks, as in does 'it' face to face, to wink at what is left unsaid. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The printed example uses quotation marks around it in a reference to sexual intercourse. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    fashionableadjectivecolloquial

    Most fashionable, popular, or in vogue at a given time; used before a noun.

    She went from unknown model to the season's it girl in a matter of months.

    Every few years the fashion press crowns a new it bag, and the waiting lists begin.

    UsageWritten in several styles: an it girl, the It bag, the 'it' shoe.

    Similarhot, trendy, fashionable

    Note

    Print cannot decide how to mark it: It Girl with capitals, the 'it' bag in quotation marks, a plain it shoe, or a hyphenated 'it'-novelist.

11. 11
    game of tagnounBritishuncountable

    The children's game of tag, in which one player chases the others and tries to catch one of them.

    We used to play it at breaktime, and whoever was caught had to do the chasing next.

    The PE teacher let the Year 3s finish with a game of it, chasing each other round the field.

    UsageChildren play it or a game of it; tag is the more widely used name.

    Similartag, tig

    Note

    In British playgrounds the game shares its name with the chaser: children play it, and one of them is it. Because the game's name is the pronoun, it hides easily in a sentence like let's play it at breaktime, which only context separates from any other it. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • In British English, the game of tag is also called it. en.wiktionary.org
    • The player who chases the others is it. en.wikipedia.org
12. 12
    pronounderogatoryoffensive

    Used to refer to a transgender or non-binary person, chiefly in a derogatory and offensive way.

    UsageUse the pronoun the person uses, such as she, he, or they.

    Note

    When it is applied to someone who has not chosen it, the pronoun denies the person a he or a she and lands as an insult. A few people do choose it for themselves, and writers who respect that choice use it and its for them, usually noting the preference first. Bruce Coville's Aliens Ate My Homework gives it to a creature that is neither male nor female. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Bruce Coville wrote Aliens Ate My Homework. en.wikipedia.org
    • The book uses it for a creature that identifies itself as neither male nor female. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    any personpronounrare

    Used to refer to an unspecified person, such as each human being or every individual in a general statement.

    She had never seen that each human being was different, would react differently, had its own peculiar idiosyncrasies.

    1959, Agatha Christie, Ordeal by Innocence

    Note

    Phrases like each human being or each man and each woman can take this pronoun when a person is meant in the abstract rather than as anyone in particular: Virginia Woolf's Orlando (1928) gives each man and each woman another allotted to it, and Agatha Christie writes of each human being having its own idiosyncrasies. The use remains rare. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Virginia Woolf wrote Orlando, first published in 1928. smith.edu
    • Orlando uses it to refer to each man and each woman in the passage about an allotted partner. fadedpage.com
    • Agatha Christie wrote of each human being having its own idiosyncrasies. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    non-personnouncountable

    Someone or something regarded as neither a he nor a she: a mere creature, or a person treated as less than human.

    Years of neglect had taught the boy that he was an it in his own home, noticed only when he was in the way.

    In the horror film, the thing in the cellar is simply an it, neither man nor beast.

    Similarthing, creature

    Note

    The noun pairs with a he and a she: an it is what is left when both are denied, a thing rather than a person. It often appears in quotation marks, an 'it', to show the label is someone else's, and it can be cold or comic: in Bulldog Drummond the perfect secretary is an it, an automatic machine. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • In Bulldog Drummond, the perfect secretary is described as an it and an automatic machine; Hugh Drummond says this to James Denny. gutenberg.net.au
15. 15
    thing's owndeterminerobsolete

    Of or belonging to it; used before a noun where modern English uses its.

    That which groweth of it owne accord of thy haruest, thou ſhalt not reape, neither gather the grapes of thy Uine vndreſſed: for it is a yeere of reſt vnto the land.

    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

    Note

    The King James Bible of 1611 forbids reaping "that which groweth of it owne accord", a phrase modern English writes as of its own accord. The bare possessive is obsolete, so in new writing it reads as a slip for its; in older texts it is correct as printed, and anyone reproducing them should leave it alone rather than correct it. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. loc.gov
    • The 1611 text forbids reaping what grows of its own accord and contains the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • The corresponding wording with its own accord appears in modernized Bible texts. en.wikisource.org
    • Bare possessive it is an attested historical form meaning its. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    pronounobsolete

    Used affectionately to refer to a person, typically the one being spoken to, in fond exclamations.

    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!

    1905, The Harvard Monthly, volumes 39-40

    Note

    This use typically appears in one fond exclamation: what a … it is!, said to the person in front of you instead of you are, as in what a puss it is! or what a dear girl it is! Writers of the 1890s and 1900s gave it to lovers and teasing friends. Long obsolete, it would likely be heard today as a slight rather than a caress. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • “What a puss it is!” occurs as an affectionate exclamation addressed to another person. en.wiktionary.org
    • “What a dear girl it is!” occurs in affectionate dialogue between lovers. en.wiktionary.org
    • Writers used the construction for teasing friends in the 1890s. gutenberg.org
    • The construction appears in lovers’ dialogue from the 1900s. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    pronounobsolete

    Used to mean that which or what, with the relative pronoun after it left unstated.

    Note

    Here it does the work of it which, or what: Thomas Browne writes surely this is it we call happiness, where a modern writer puts this is what we call happiness. English still drops the relative after a noun, as in the thing we call happiness, but after it the habit has died, and a modern sentence built this way reads as a slip. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Historically, “it” could mean “that which” or “what”, with an understood relative pronoun. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas Browne wrote “surely this is it we call happiness”. gutenberg.org
18. 18
    pronoun

    Used as the subject of a form of be, followed by a that or who clause, to single out one part of a statement for emphasis.

    It was in Chicago that the two founders first met.

    It is her patience, not her talent, that makes her such a good teacher.

    UsageIt is or it was + the focus + that or who; the verb stays singular: it is the twins who are late.

    Note

    The pattern turns one plain statement into two clauses, and whatever sits between it is and that or who gets the stress. Remove those words and the plain sentence returns: It was Ana who won becomes Ana won. With the placeholder it, nothing is singled out: in It is clear that she won, the clause is the subject.

19. 19
    nouncolloquialuncountable

    Something right, good or fitting for the situation at hand, used mainly in negative statements.

    The designer stared at the third draft of the logo and sighed: still not it.

    Wearing socks with sandals to a wedding? Sorry, that's not it.

    UsageOften after this or that: this isn't it, and the slangy this ain't it.

20. 20
    noun

    In psychoanalysis, the id: the unconscious, instinctive part of the mind, a term from Georg Groddeck taken up by Freud.