It

A word used to refer to a thing, animal, idea, situation, or sometimes a baby when the gender is unknown or not important. It can also be used as a placeholder subject in sentences like “It is raining.”

From Old English “hit,” a neuter pronoun meaning “it,” related to other Germanic pronouns like German “es.” Over time, the initial “h” was dropped in most uses, leaving the short form “it.” Despite its size, it has stayed central in English grammar for over a thousand years.