myself

English

Alternative forms

• myselfe (archaic)

Etymology

From me (pronoun) + self (pronoun). Later partly reinterpreted as my + self (noun).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /maɪˈsɛlf/, SAMPA: /maI"sElf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlf
• Hyphenation: my‧self

Pronoun

myself (reflexive case of I)

1. (reflexive) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject. [from 9th c.]

   I taught myself.

2. Personally, for my part; used in apposition to I, sometimes for simple emphasis and sometimes with implicit exclusion of any others performing the activity described. [from 10th c.]
3. Me (as the object of a verb or preposition). [from 10th c.]
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 36:

     Later I realized that the ignorant man that day was not the chief but myself.

4. (archaic) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]

Related terms

• myselves

Usage notes

• Use where I could be used is mostly poetic or archaic, except with a coordinating conjunction, such as and, as shown in the usage example.
• Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) reports opposition to the intensifier use, especially where I could be used.
• AP Stylebook Online (2010) reports opposition to the intensifier use as reflexive pronouns (myself) should not be used instead of objective pronouns (me).

Translations

me, reflexive case of I

American Sign Language: 1^o-f@Sternum-FingerBack Catalan: em (ca) Croatian: sebe (hr), se (hr), sam sebe (hr) Esperanto: mi (eo), min (eo) Finnish: itseni (fi) French: me (fr), moi-même (fr) German: (accusative) mich (de), (dative) mir (de) Greek: ο εαυτός μου (el) (o eaftόs mu)

Latin: egomet (la) Portuguese: me (pt) Russian: (accusative, genitive) себя (ru) (sebjá), (dative, prepositional) себе (ru) (sebé), (instrumental) собой (ru) (sobój), (with verbs) -ся (ru) (-sja) Spanish: me (es) Turkish: kendim (tr)

in apposition with I; personally

American Sign Language: A@Chest-RadialBack Contact Catalan: mateix (ca) Finnish: minä itse (fi) Latin: egomet (la)

Portuguese: eu mesmo (pt) m., eu mesma (pt) f. Russian: я сам (ru) (ja sam) Spanish: (yo) mismo (es) Turkish: kendim (tr), tek başıma (tr), şahsen (tr)

See also

English personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Subject	Objective	Reflexive	Possessive	Possessive Pronoun
Singular	First	—	I	me	myself	my	mine
	Second	—	you, thou (archaic)	you, thee (archaic)	yourself, thyself (archaic) theeself (archaic)	your, thy (archaic)	yours, thine (archaic)
	Third	Masculine	he	him	himself	his
		Feminine	she	her	herself	her	hers
		Neuter	it		itself	its	its (rare)
Plural	First	—	we	us	ourselves	our	ours
	Second	—	you, ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	your	yours
	Third	—	they	them	themselves	their	theirs
Indefinite	Third	—	one		oneself	one's	—

Noun

myself (plural ourselves)

1. that being which is oneself

   I am not myself today.

Translations

that being which is oneself

Arabic: نفسي (nafsī) Egyptian Arabic: نفسي (nafsi) Chinese: 我自己 (wǒ zìjǐ) Crimean Tatar: özüm Dutch: ikzelf (nl), mijzelf (nl), mezelf (nl) Esperanto: min (eo) Finnish: itseni (fi) French: moi-même (fr) German: ich selbst Hebrew: עצמי (atsmi) Hungarian: magam (hu) Italian: me stesso (it) m., me stessa (it) f.

Japanese: 私自身 (わたくしじしん, watakushi jishin) Korean: 나 자신 (na jasin) Kurdish: Sorani: خۆم (ku) (xom) Latin: egomet (la) Norwegian: megselv (no), meg selv (no) Portuguese: eu mesmo m., eu mesma f. Romanian: eu însumi m., eu însămi f. Russian: себя (sebjá), я сам (ja sam) Spanish: yo mismo (es) Swedish: mig själv (sv)

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: certain · sent · keep · #271: myself · morning · money · door