item

See also: ítem

English

Etymology

The word started as Latin item for "also", "in the same manner", and got its present English meaning from a misunderstanding of its usage in lists, where the first entry would begin "In primis" (Latin for "firstly"), and the other entries with "Item" (Latin for "also"), in former times when most learned people in England knew Latin.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

item (plural items)

1. A distinct physical object.

   Tweezers are great for manipulating small items.

   • 2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects  [… ]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:

     The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters  […] . But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna.

2. (by extension, video games) An object that can be picked up for later use.
3. A line of text having a legal or other meaning; a separate particular in an account.

   the items in a bill

   In response to the first item, we deny all wrongdoing.

4. (psychometrics) A question on a test, which may include its answers.

   The exam has 100 items, each of which includes a correct response and three distractors.

5. A matter for discussion in an agenda.

   The first item for discussion is the budget for next year's picnic.

6. (informal) Two people who are having a relationship with each other.

   Jack and Jill are an item.

   • 2010, Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, Baby

     Are we an item? Girl, quit playin' / "We're just friends," what are you sayin'?

7. A short article in a newspaper.

   an item concerning the weather

8. (obsolete) A hint; an innuendo.
   • Thomas Fuller (1606-1661)

     A secret item was given to some of the bishops […] to absent themselves.

Synonyms

• (object): article, object, thing
• (line of text having a legal or semantic meaning):
• (matter for discussion): subject, topic
• (two people who are having a relationship with each other): couple
• (psychometrics): test/assessment question

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of item

• collector's item
• negative polarity item

• polarity item

• positive polarity item

• subitem

Derived terms

Terms derived from item

• itemise

• itemize

• itemset

• subitem

Translations

distinct physical object

• Arabic: بَنْد‏‎ m (band)
• Armenian: միավոր (hy) (miavor), միույթ (miuytʿ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 項目 (zh), 项目 (zh) (xiàngmù)

• Czech: předmět (cs)
• Danish: stykke (da) n
• Dutch: exemplaar (nl) n, artikel (nl) n, stuk (nl) n, object (nl) n
• Estonian: ese
• Finnish: esine (fi)
• French: article (fr) m, truc (fr) m
• German: Ding (de) n, Gegenstand (de) m, Stück (de) n, Artikel (de) m
• Hebrew: אבזר‏‎ (he), פריט‏‎ m (prit)

• Italian: articolo (it) m, elemento (it) m
• Japanese: 項目 (ja) (こうもく, kōmoku)
• Maori: tuemi
• Mongolian: зүйл (mn) (züjl)
• Polish: rzecz (pl) f, przedmiot (pl) m, sztuka (pl) f
• Portuguese: item (pt) m
• Romanian: articol (ro) n, exemplar (ro) n, bucată (ro) f
• Russian: предме́т (ru) m (predmét), шту́ка (ru) f (štúka), вещь (ru) f (veščʹ)
• Slovene: predmet (sl) m
• Spanish: ítem (es)
• Swahili: kifaa (sw)
• Swedish: föremål (sv) n, ting (sv) n, sak (sv) c

video games: object that can be picked up for later use

• Finnish: esine (fi), tavara (fi)
• German: Gegenstand (de) m

• Japanese: アイテム (ja) (aitemu)
• Korean: 아이템 (aitem)

line of text having a particular meaning

• Armenian: հոդված (hy) (hodvac)
• Czech: položka
• Danish: punkt (da) n

• Finnish: kohta (fi)
• Russian: строка (ru) f (stroka), позиция (ru) f (pozicija), пункт (ru) m (punkt)

test assessment question

• Finnish: kohta (fi), kysymys (fi), tehtävä (fi)

matter for discussion in an agenda

• Czech: bod (cs) m
• Danish: punkt (da) n
• Dutch: agendapunt (nl) n
• Finnish: esityslistan kohta, kohta (fi), asiakohta
• French: point (fr) m

• Italian: punto (it)
• Portuguese: item (pt) m
• Romanian: punct de agendă n
• Slovene: zadeva f
• Swedish: punkt u

informal: two people who are having a relationship with each other

• Dutch: koppeltje (nl) n
• Finnish: pari (fi)

• Russian: пара (ru) f (para)

short article

• Finnish: juttu (fi)

hint; innuendo

• Finnish: vihje (fi)

Anagrams

• emit, mite, time

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French

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. same; in the same way

Further reading

• “item” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. (law) in the same way.

Noun

item m (invariable)

1. (computer science) A single programmed unit.
2. (linguistics) An element of a grammatical or lexical set.

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Latin

Etymology

Possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *éy and *só. Confer with ita.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈi.tem/, [ˈɪ.tẽ]

Adverb

item (not comparable)

1. likewise, also

References

• item in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “item”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “item” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)

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Middle French

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. same; in the same way

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Old French

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. same; in the same way

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin item.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈi.tɛm/, /ˈi.tɐ̃j̃/
• Hyphenation: i‧tem

Noun

item m (plural itens)

1. item
2. A matter for discussion in an agenda or elsewhere.

   O primeiro item a considerar é o orçamento para o próximo piquenique.

3. A line of text with some meaning.

   Consideremos um item de cada vez.