oneself

English

Etymology

A contracted form of one's self (Mid-16th century). Equivalent to one +‎ -self.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wʌnˈsɛlf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

oneself (reflexive form of the indefinite personal pronoun one, formerly sometimes two words: one's self)

1. A person's self: general form of himself, herself, themself or yourself.

   Teaching oneself to swim can be dangerous.

Usage notes

This pronoun can be used for emphasis or to make a verb reflexive.

Synonyms

• one's self
• one's ass

Derived terms

• above oneself
• absorb oneself in
• adorn oneself with borrowed plumes
• all over oneself
• apply oneself
• assert oneself
• back oneself into a corner
• bear oneself
• behave oneself
• be oneself
• beside oneself
• bless oneself
• box oneself into a corner
• break one's arm patting oneself on the back
• bring oneself to
• buy a dog and bark oneself
• by oneself
• carry oneself
• change oneself
• check in with oneself
• collect oneself
• come to oneself
• contain oneself
• cop oneself on
• crap oneself
• create daylight between oneself and someone
• cross oneself
• cry oneself to sleep
• cut oneself
• deny oneself
• despite oneself
• dig a hole for oneself
• dig oneself in/into a hole
• do oneself a mischief
• do well for oneself
• drink oneself to death
• ease oneself
• enjoy oneself
• enlarge oneself
• expose oneself
• express oneself
• fall into oneself
• fall over oneself
• feel like oneself
• feel oneself
• fend for oneself
• find it in oneself
• find oneself
• flatter oneself
• fool to oneself
• forget oneself
• full of oneself
• gather oneself, ~ together
• get ahead of oneself
• get ahold of oneself
• get oneself together
• get over oneself
• get past oneself
• give a good account of oneself
• give of oneself
• give oneself airs
• go f/fuck oneself
• grip oneself with both hands
• handle oneself
• have a dog and bark oneself
• have a word with oneself
• have tickets on oneself
• have to say for oneself
• hear oneself think
• help oneself
• hold oneself together
• hug oneself
• in spite of oneself
• keep a dog and bark oneself
• keep oneself to oneself
• keep one's hands to oneself
• keep to oneself
• kill oneself
• knock oneself out
• lash oneself to the mast
• law unto oneself
• let oneself go
• lift oneself up by one's bootstraps, …boot-tags, …own bootstraps, …own boot-tags, …own waistbands
• live within oneself
• live with oneself
• look at oneself in the mirror
• lose oneself
• lose the run of oneself
• make a name for oneself
• make an exhibition of oneself
• make a nuisance of oneself
• make a pig of oneself
• make a pig out of oneself
• make a public spectacle of oneself
• make a show of oneself
• make a spectacle of oneself
• make oneself at home
• make oneself clear
• make oneself scarce
• make something of oneself
• miss oneself
• occupy oneself
• outbrake oneself
• owe it to oneself
• pace oneself
• paint oneself into a corner
• pass oneself off as
• pee oneself
• pick oneself up off the floor
• piss oneself
• play with oneself
• pleased with oneself
• pleasure oneself
• poop oneself
• prove oneself
• pull oneself
• pull oneself together
• pull oneself up by one's (own) bootstraps
• pull the ladder up after/behind oneself
• put daylight between oneself and someone
• put oneself about
• put oneself across
• put oneself in someone's place/shoes
• put oneself out
• put oneself out of the way
• raise oneself up by one's (own) bootstraps
• read oneself in
• redeem oneself
• reiterate oneself
• relieve oneself
• repeat oneself
• resign oneself
• rub oneself off
• satisfy oneself
• say to oneself
• score on oneself
• see for oneself
• see oneself out
• sell oneself
• sell oneself short
• service oneself
• shit oneself
• shoot oneself in the foot
• show oneself
• soil oneself
• sorry for oneself
• sort oneself out
• speak for oneself
• spread oneself (too) thin
• stuck on oneself
• suit oneself
• sun oneself
• sure of oneself
• take it upon oneself
• take oneself up by one's own ears
• take upon oneself
• talk to oneself
• think for oneself
• think no end of oneself
• through oneself
• throw oneself at
• throw oneself into
• throw oneself on someone's mercy
• tie oneself in knots
• tie oneself to the mast
• to oneself, to-oneself
• top oneself
• touch oneself
• true to oneself
• up oneself
• wet oneself
• wipe oneself

 

Translations

a person's self: general form of himself, herself, themself or yourself

• Arabic: نَفْس (ar) (nafs)
• Catalan: es (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 自己 (zi⁶ gei²)

  Hokkien: 家己 (zh-min-nan) (ka-kī)

  Mandarin: 自己 (zh) (zìjǐ), 自身 (zh) (zìshēn), 自個兒／自个儿 (zh) (zìgěr)

• Dutch: zichzelf (nl), zich (nl)
• Esperanto: mem (eo)
• Finnish: itsensä (fi)
• French: soi-même (fr)
• Galician: un mesmo
• German: selbst (de), sich (de)
• Hindi: स्वयं (hi) (svayã), ख़ुद (xud)
• Hungarian: maga (hu), önmaga (hu), saját maga
• Japanese: 自分 (ja) (じぶん, jibun), 自分自身 (ja) (じぶんじしん, jibun jishin), 自身 (ja) (じしん, jishin), 自己 (ja) (じこ, jiko)
• Korean: 자신(自身) (ko) (jasin), 자기(自己) (ko) (jagi)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: шке (ške)

• Mauritian Creole: limem
• Persian: خود (fa) (xud, xod), نفس (fa) (nafs)
• Polish: siebie (pl), sobie (pl)
• Portuguese: se (pt), si (pt) (prepositional)
• Quechua: kiki
• Russian: (nominative) сам (ru) (sam), (genitive, accusative) себя́ (ru) (sebjá), (dative, prepositional) себе́ (ru) (sebé), (etc.)
• Sanskrit: स्वयम् (sa) (svayam)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: se

• Spanish: sí mismo, uno mismo (es)
• Swedish: sig själv, sig (sv)
• Telugu: తాను (te) (tānu)
• Thai: ตัวเอง (th) (dtuua-eeng)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kendi başına (tr), ^{(please verify)} kendi kendine (tr), ^{(please verify)} öz başına (tr)
• Urdu: خود (xud)
• Vietnamese: mình (vi)

See also

• one
• self

 

English personal pronouns

Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are in italics.

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive
first person	singular		I me (colloquial)	me	myself me mysen	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic) me
	plural		we	us	ourselves ourself oursen	ours	our
second person	singular	standard, formal	you	you	yourself yoursen	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself thysen	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
	plural	standard	you ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		colloquial	you all y'all you guys	you all y'all you guys	y'allselves	y'all's you guys' your guys' (proscribed)	y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys' your guys' (proscribed)
		informal / dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself (archaic) hissen	his hisn (obsolete outside dialects)	his
		feminine	she	her	herself hersen	hers hern (obsolete outside dialects)	her
		neuter	it hit	it hit	itself hitself	its his (archaic)	its his (archaic) hits
		genderless	they	them	themself, themselves	theirs	their
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
	plural		they	them hem, 'em	themselves theirsen	theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects)	their