Something
pronounAn unspecified or unknown thing, matter, or amount.
How to spell something
9 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce something
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does something mean?
- pronounAn unspecified or unknown thing, matter, or amount.
Something in a sentence
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I've forgotten something.
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There's something different about her today.
Where does something come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word is a native English compound that comes straight from Old English, where it appeared as 'sum thing', literally meaning 'some thing'. The first element 'sum' meant 'a certain one' or 'an unspecified amount', and it traces back to the Proto-Germanic root that also gave German 'summe' and the modern English word 'some'. The second element, 'thing', originally meant an assembly, a meeting, or a matter brought before such a gathering, before it broadened to mean any object or affair at all. Over the centuries the two words fused into a single written form, much as 'sometime', 'somewhere', and 'somebody' did. Because it is built so transparently from two everyday words, the spelling rarely troubles adults: the only quiet trap is remembering that the 'e' of 'some' survives in the middle even though it is not pronounced.
How the word is built
- some (an unspecified quantity or one)
- thing (an object or matter)
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