Not anything; no single thing. As a noun, it can mean the absence of anything or something that is of no importance.
From Old English “nā-thing,” literally “no thing,” from “nā” (no, not any) + “thing.” Over time, it fused into the single word “nothing.”
Philosophers and scientists have argued for centuries about whether “nothing” can even exist, since a complete absence is hard to imagine. In everyday speech, we use it loosely—“I’m doing nothing”—even though we’re always doing something.
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