# it

Pronunciation: say "IT" /ɪt/

## Pronoun

1. Used to refer to a thing, idea, or animal, or to a baby or young child, especially one whose sex is unknown.
   - Simple: Used for a thing, idea, animal, or a baby, already mentioned or understood.
   - _The proposal looked good on paper, but the board rejected it within minutes._
   - _The old oak had stood for two centuries before a storm finally brought it down._
2. Used as a placeholder subject, or less often object, when the real subject or object comes later, commonly as a to-infinitive, an -ing form, or a clause beginning with that or whether.
   - Simple: Used as a subject or object to stand for an idea that comes later in the same sentence.
   - _It surprised everyone that the youngest candidate won._
   - _She found it hard to admit that she had been wrong._
3. Used without referring to anything, as the subject of a verb or statement that has no real subject, as when giving the time or describing the weather.
   - Simple: Used as the subject of a sentence about time, weather, or how things are, when no real thing is meant.
   - _It gets dark early here in December._
   - _It was strangely quiet in the house after the guests left._
4. Used in many short idioms and fixed expressions, referring to nothing specific or only to something the situation implies.
   - Simple: Used in many short fixed phrases without standing for any one thing.
   - _Doctors told him to take it easy for a few days after the surgery._
   - _They lived it up in Las Vegas on the money she won._
5. 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.
   - Simple: Used when you say or ask who someone is, for example on the phone.
   - _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.”_
6. Used to mean everything there is, or the end of something, with nothing more to follow.
   - Simple: Used to say that this is all, or the end, and there is no more.
   - _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._
8. 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.
   - Simple: A special quality, like talent or attractiveness, that makes someone stand out, as in 'she's still got it'.
   - _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._
9. Used, especially in do it, to refer to sexual intercourse or other sexual activity that is implied rather than named.
   - Simple: Used to mean sex when people do not want to say the word.
   - _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._
12. Used to refer to a transgender or non-binary person, chiefly in a derogatory and offensive way.
   - Simple: Used about a transgender or non-binary person, usually in a rude and hurtful way.
18. 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.
   - Simple: Used with is or was and a that or who part to show which part of a sentence matters most.
   - _It was in Chicago that the two founders first met._
   - _It is her patience, not her talent, that makes her such a good teacher._

## Noun

7. In the playground game of tag, the player who chases the others and tries to catch one of them.
   - Simple: In the game of tag, the player who runs after the others and tries to catch 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._
11. The children's game of tag, in which one player chases the others and tries to catch one of them. *(British)*
   - Simple: A game children play where one player chases the others and tries to catch 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._
14. Someone or something regarded as neither a he nor a she: a mere creature, or a person treated as less than human.
   - Simple: A person or creature seen as neither a man nor a woman, or treated like a thing.
   - _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._
19. Something right, good or fitting for the situation at hand, used mainly in negative statements. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The right or good thing for a situation, used mostly in sentences with not.
   - _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._

## Adjective

10. Most fashionable, popular, or in vogue at a given time; used before a noun. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The most popular and fashionable at the moment.
   - _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._

## Pronoun

13. Used to refer to an unspecified person, such as each human being or every individual in a general statement. *(rare)*
   - Simple: Used for any person in general, not a particular one.
16. Used affectionately to refer to a person, typically the one being spoken to, in fond exclamations. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Used in a loving way to talk about a person, often the one you are talking to.
17. Used to mean that which or what, with the relative pronoun after it left unstated. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Used long ago to mean what, or the thing that.

## Determiner

15. Of or belonging to it; used before a noun where modern English uses its. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Used long ago in place of its, before a noun.

## Other meanings

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

## Origin

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe- or *ḱey- ("this, here") gave Proto-Germanic *hit ("this, this one") and then Old English hit, meaning "it." In Middle English it appeared as both it and hit. Dutch het and Low German it are relatives, and Latin hic ("this") is a more distant one.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/it (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).