self-made

English

Etymology

self- +‎ made

Adjective

self-made (not comparable)

1. Of a person, having achieved success by one's own efforts.

   My father was the quintessential self-made man.

   • 1852-1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House:

     There was I a dragoon, roving, unsettled, not self-made like him, but self-unmade—all my earlier advantages thrown away, all my little learning unlearnt, nothing picked up but what unfitted me for most things that I could think of.

2. Of a thing, made by oneself instead of bought or taken over.
   • 1905, Fielding Yost, Football for Player and Spectator:

     Originally each school was bound only by self-made rules.

Synonyms

• (made by oneself instead of bought): homemade, homebrew
• (Of a person, having achieved success by one's own efforts): self-structured, self-formed

Translations

having achieved success by one's own efforts

• Finnish: itse uransa luonut, oman onnensa seppä
• Greek: αυτοδημιούργητος (el) (aftodimioúrgitos)
• Italian: venuto dal niente
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: zawdzięczający wszystko samemu sobie
• Russian: обя́занный всем самому́ себе́ (objázannyj vsem samomú sebé)

made by oneself

• Dutch: zelfgemaakt (nl)
• Finnish: omatekoinen, itse tehty
• German: selbstgemacht (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: самоде́льный (ru) (samodélʹnyj)
• Spanish: casero, hecho a mano, hecho en casa