the.com/item
The word you use when you can't be bothered to name the thing.
means A single distinct thing in a list or collection — the generic stand-in word for whatever-it-is.
from From Latin item, meaning 'likewise' or 'also,' which medieval scribes and merchants used to introduce each new entry when listing things: 'this, item that, item that...' Over time the connecting word got mistaken for naming the thing itself, and 'item' drifted from meaning 'also' to meaning 'the next thing on the list.'
- romantic sense
- as in 'those two are an item' since 1970s slang
- etymology
- from Latin item, meaning likewise, also
- legal use
- old lawyers wrote item to list each separate point
- placeholder power
- stands in for anything, which is exactly its job