"ain't nothing but a thang" meaning in English

See ain't nothing but a thang in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ain't nothing but a thang.wav Forms: ain't nuthin' but a thang [alternative]
Head templates: {{head|en|verb}} ain't nothing but a thang
  1. (slang, African-American Vernacular) That particular thing or person is not important; it doesn't matter. Tags: slang

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ain't nuthin' but a thang",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb"
      },
      "expansion": "ain't nothing but a thang",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "African-American Vernacular English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English double negatives",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              106,
              131
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1975, Red Jordan Arobateau, The Bars Across Heaven, page 3:",
          "text": "\"Man, I don't see how you catch 'em. I ain't so brave.\" Flip confided to her partner. \"Ah shit. Women? It ain't nothing but a thang.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              38
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006, Lawrence Christopher, Ghettoway Weekend, page 15:",
          "text": "“Aw man, she ain't nothing but a thang.”\n“She wouldn't give you her number right?”\n“Man, I ain't sweatin' that chick. She ain't nothing but trouble.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              63
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Chunichi, The Return of a Gangster's Girl, page 26:",
          "text": "\"I mean, if you're not interested, it ain't nothing but a thang, baby girl. Just let a nigga know.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "That particular thing or person is not important; it doesn't matter."
      ],
      "id": "en-ain't_nothing_but_a_thang-en-verb-lNYQfEOs",
      "links": [
        [
          "important",
          "important"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "African-American Vernacular",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, African-American Vernacular) That particular thing or person is not important; it doesn't matter."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ain't nothing but a thang.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c1/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c1/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ain't nothing but a thang"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ain't nuthin' but a thang",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb"
      },
      "expansion": "ain't nothing but a thang",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "African-American Vernacular English",
        "English double negatives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              106,
              131
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1975, Red Jordan Arobateau, The Bars Across Heaven, page 3:",
          "text": "\"Man, I don't see how you catch 'em. I ain't so brave.\" Flip confided to her partner. \"Ah shit. Women? It ain't nothing but a thang.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              38
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006, Lawrence Christopher, Ghettoway Weekend, page 15:",
          "text": "“Aw man, she ain't nothing but a thang.”\n“She wouldn't give you her number right?”\n“Man, I ain't sweatin' that chick. She ain't nothing but trouble.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              63
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Chunichi, The Return of a Gangster's Girl, page 26:",
          "text": "\"I mean, if you're not interested, it ain't nothing but a thang, baby girl. Just let a nigga know.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "That particular thing or person is not important; it doesn't matter."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "important",
          "important"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "African-American Vernacular",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, African-American Vernacular) That particular thing or person is not important; it doesn't matter."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ain't nothing but a thang.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c1/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c1/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-ain%27t_nothing_but_a_thang.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ain't nothing but a thang"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (142890b and 1d3fdbf). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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