"Zeug" makes more sense if you think of it as the English "gear" -- tools and equipment, the original etymology -- which is also uncountable. "Thing" isn't entirely wrong, but it's specifically a thing that is some sort of device that has utility. A Flugzeug can be thought or as flying equipment, Fahrzeug is driving equipment, and so on.

In Norwegian and Danish you'll have -tøy/-tøj words that came from Germanic via Old Norse: "fartøy" (vehicle or boat, as in "Fahrzeug"), "leketøy/legetøj" (toy; literally play-thing).

"Zeug" (or rather, its proto-Germanic ancestor) survives in English as "toy", funnily enough.

Thank you, now I don't have to explain it haha. I just want to add that in medieval times Zeug was also used to refer to arms and armor. Some cities still have a Zeughaus, nowadays usually a museum for plate armor etc.

The pejorative connotation wasn't there back then.

In Switzerland the term "Zeughaus" is still in use as the official term for an arsenal or armory.

In Swedish we also have "-tyg" and "-don" which is similar.

So we have far-tyg for faring-stuff on water, and for-don for faring-stuff on land.

Tyg on itself is fabric, like "stoff" is in German or Danish (in Danish stof is also drugs or matter in general).

"Gear" makes a lot of sense. "Zaumzeug" denotes the bridles used to control horses.

Etymology is just fascinating.

Not to mention "lekking", which still means "playing" in parts of northern England.

Hmm, "Zeug" is uncountable and without plural (like "stuff"), while "Ding" is countable and has a plural (like "thing"). I think I've seen "Flugzeug" rendered as "Flything", but "Flystuff" feels closer.