Thing - Schema.org Type
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About
Thing
A Schema.org Type
Thing
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Canonical URL: https://schema.org/Thing
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The most generic type of item.
Property
Expected Type
Description
Properties from
Thing
additionalType
Text
or
URL
An additional type for the item, typically used for adding more specific types from external vocabularies in microdata syntax. This is a relationship between something and a class that the thing is in. Typically the value is a URI-identified RDF class, and in this case corresponds to the
use of rdf:type in RDF. Text values can be used sparingly, for cases where useful information can be added without their being an appropriate schema to reference. In the case of text values, the class label should follow the schema.org
style guide
alternateName
Text
An alias for the item.
description
Text
or
TextObject
A description of the item.
disambiguatingDescription
Text
A sub property of description. A short description of the item used to disambiguate from other, similar items. Information from other properties (in particular, name) may be necessary for the description to be useful for disambiguation.
identifier
PropertyValue
or
Text
or
URL
The identifier property represents any kind of identifier for any kind of
Thing
, such as ISBNs, GTIN codes, UUIDs etc. Schema.org provides dedicated properties for representing many of these, either as textual strings or as URL (URI) links. See
background notes
for more details.
image
ImageObject
or
URL
An image of the item. This can be a
URL
or a fully described
ImageObject
mainEntityOfPage
CreativeWork
or
URL
Indicates a page (or other CreativeWork) for which this thing is the main entity being described. See
background notes
for details.
Inverse property:
mainEntity
name
Text
The name of the item.
owner
Organization
or
Person
A person or organization who owns this Thing.
Inverse property:
owns
potentialAction
Action
Indicates a potential Action, which describes an idealized action in which this thing would play an 'object' role.
sameAs
URL
URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity. E.g. the URL of the item's Wikipedia page, Wikidata entry, or official website.
subjectOf
CreativeWork
or
Event
A CreativeWork or Event about this Thing.
Inverse property:
about
url
URL
URL of the item.
Instances of
Thing
may appear as a value for the following properties
Property
On Types
Description
about
Certification
or
CommunicateAction
or
CreativeWork
or
DefinedTerm
or
DefinedTermSet
or
Event
The subject matter of an object.
actionOption
ChooseAction
A sub property of object. The options subject to this action.
aggregateElement
ItemList
Indicates a prototype of the elements in the list that is used to hold aggregate information (ratings, offers, etc.).
category
ActionAccessSpecification
or
Guide
or
Invoice
or
Offer
or
PhysicalActivity
or
Product
or
Recommendation
or
Service
or
SpecialAnnouncement
A category for the item. Greater signs or slashes can be used to informally indicate a category hierarchy.
characterAttribute
Game
or
VideoGameSeries
A piece of data that represents a particular aspect of a fictional character (skill, power, character points, advantage, disadvantage).
collection
UpdateAction
A sub property of object. The collection target of the action.
data
InstantaneousEvent
Data associated with the event, like for instance a log message.
dataFeedElement
DataFeed
An item within a data feed. Data feeds may have many elements.
defaultValue
PropertyValueSpecification
The default value of the input. For properties that expect a literal, the default is a literal value, for properties that expect an object, it's an ID reference to one of the current values.
error
Action
For failed actions, more information on the cause of the failure. Consider using the Error type.
gameItem
Game
or
VideoGameSeries
An item is an object within the game world that can be collected by a player or, occasionally, a non-player character.
gamePlatform
VideoGame
or
VideoGameSeries
The electronic systems used to play
video games
instrument
Action
The object that helped the agent perform the action. E.g. John wrote a book with
a pen
item
DataFeedItem
or
ListItem
An entity represented by an entry in a list or data feed (e.g. an 'artist' in a list of 'artists').
itemListElement
ItemList
For itemListElement values, you can use simple strings (e.g. "Peter", "Paul", "Mary"), existing entities, or use ListItem.
Text values are best if the elements in the list are plain strings. Existing entities are best for a simple, unordered list of existing things in your data. ListItem is used with ordered lists when you want to provide additional context about the element in that list or when the same item might be in different places in different lists.
Note: The order of elements in your mark-up is not sufficient for indicating the order or elements. Use ListItem with a 'position' property in such cases.
itemReviewed
AggregateRating
or
Review
The item that is being reviewed/rated.
knowsAbout
Organization
or
Person
Of a
Person
, and less typically of an
Organization
, to indicate a topic that is known about - suggesting possible expertise but not implying it. We do not distinguish skill levels here, or relate this to educational content, events, objectives or
JobPosting
descriptions.
mainEntity
CreativeWork
Indicates the primary entity described in some page or other CreativeWork.
mentions
CreativeWork
Indicates that the CreativeWork contains a reference to, but is not necessarily about a concept.
object
Action
The object upon which the action is carried out, whose state is kept intact or changed. Also known as the semantic roles patient, affected or undergoer (which change their state) or theme (which doesn't). E.g. John read
a book
observationAbout
Observation
The
observationAbout
property identifies an entity, often a
Place
, associated with an
Observation
option
ChooseAction
A sub property of object. The options subject to this action.
owns
Organization
or
Person
Things owned by the organization or person.
produces
Service
The tangible thing generated by the service, e.g. a passport, permit, etc.
quest
Game
or
VideoGameSeries
The task that a player-controlled character, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward.
replacee
ReplaceAction
A sub property of object. The object that is being replaced.
replacer
ReplaceAction
A sub property of object. The object that replaces.
requiredCollateral
LoanOrCredit
Assets required to secure loan or credit repayments. It may take form of third party pledge, goods, financial instruments (cash, securities, etc.)
reservationFor
Reservation
The thing -- flight, event, restaurant, etc. being reserved.
result
Action
The result produced in the action. E.g. John wrote
a book
serviceOutput
Service
The tangible thing generated by the service, e.g. a passport, permit, etc.
source
InstantaneousEvent
The source or cause of the event.
targetCollection
UpdateAction
A sub property of object. The collection target of the action.
More specific Types
Action
BioChemEntity
CreativeWork
Event
Intangible
MedicalEntity
Organization
Person
Place
Product
Taxon
Examples
Example 1
Copied
No Markup
JSON-LD
Structure
Example notes or example HTML without markup.
See JSON example.
Example encoded as
JSON-LD
in a HTML script tag.

Structured representation of the JSON-LD example.
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "Thing",
"name": "Schema.org Ontology",
"subjectOf": {
"@type": "Book",
"name": "The Complete History of Schema.org"
Terms and conditions
Schema.org
V30.0
2026-03-19