Thing

The most generic type of item.

More specific types: Action, BioChemEntity, CreativeWork, Event, Intangible, MedicalEntity, Organization, Person, Place, Product, Taxon

Properties from Thing

Property Expected Type Description
additionalType Text, 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 TextObject, Text 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, URL, Text 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, URL An image of the item. This can be a URL or a fully described ImageObject.
mainEntityOfPage URL, CreativeWork Indicates a page (or other CreativeWork) for which this thing is the main entity being described. See background notes for details.
name Text The name of the item.
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, Event A CreativeWork or Event about this Thing.
url URL URL of the item.

Instances of Thing may appear as a value for the following properties

Property On Types Description
actionOption ChooseAction A sub property of object. The options subject to this action.
category SpecialAnnouncement, PhysicalActivity, Offer, Invoice, Service, Recommendation, Product, ActionAccessSpecification A category for the item. Greater signs or slashes can be used to informally indicate a category hierarchy.
characterAttribute VideoGameSeries, Game 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.
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.
gameItem VideoGameSeries, Game An item is an object within the game world that can be collected by a player or, occasionally, a non-player character.
gamePlatform VideoGame, 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, 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 Review, AggregateRating The item that is being reviewed/rated.
knowsAbout Organization, 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.
produces Service The tangible thing generated by the service, e.g. a passport, permit, etc.
quest Game, VideoGameSeries The task that a player-controlled character, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward.
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*.
targetCollection UpdateAction A sub property of object. The collection target of the action.