self

See also self-

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Old English self, seolf, sylf, from Proto-Germanic *selbaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɛlf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

self

1. (obsolete) Himself, herself, itself, themselves; that specific (person mentioned).

   This argument was put forward by the defendant self.

2. (commercial or humorous) Myself.

   I made out a cheque, payable to self, which cheered me up somewhat.

Noun

self (plural selves)

1. An individual person as the object of his own reflective consciousness.
   • Sir W. Hamilton

     The self, the I, is recognized in every act of intelligence as the subject to which that act belongs. It is I that perceive, I that imagine, I that remember, I that attend, I that compare, I that feel, I that will, I that am conscious.

Related terms

• selfdom
• selfhood
• selfish
• selfless
• selflike
• selfsame
• myself, ourselves, yourself, thyself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves, oneself, one's self

Translations

individual person as the object of his own reflective consciousness

Arabic: نفس (nafs) Chinese: Mandarin: 自己 (cmn) (zìjǐ), (as a prefix) 自 (cmn) (zì) Crimean Tatar: özü Dutch: zelf (nl) n. Finnish: itse German: Selbst n. Ido: ipsa Irish: féin (ga) Italian: stesso (it) Japanese: 自己 (じこ, jiko), 自身 (じしん, jíshin)

Korean: 자신 (jasin), 자기자신 (jagijasin) Kurdish: Sorani: خۆ (ku) (xo) Latin: idem (la) Norwegian: selv (no) Russian: сам (ru) (sam), себя (ru) (sebjá) (genitive case, accusative case), себе (ru) (sebé) (dative case, prepositional case), etc. Spanish: yo m. (psychology), ser m. (psychology) Swedish: själv (sv) Tagalog: sarili (tl) West Frisian: sels (fy)

See also

• self-
• person
• I
• ego

Adjective

self

1. (obsolete) same
   • 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, I.i:

     I am made of that self mettle as my sister.

External links

• self in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• self in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• LSFE

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Maltese

Noun

self

1. loan

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Old English

Alternative forms

• seolf, sylf

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *selbaz, whence also Old High German selb, Old Norse sjálfr

Pronoun

self

1. self