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self

pron
/ˈsɛlf/

Etymology

From Middle English salve, self, silf, from Old English self, seolf, sylf, from Proto-Germanic *selbaz, from Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ- (“one's own”). Cognates Cognates with Saterland Frisian sälven, säärm, sääuwen (“oneself”), West Frisian sels (“oneself”), Bavarian söbe (“identical, same”), söber (“self”), Dutch zelf (“myself, oneself”), German selber (“self”), selbst (“by oneself”), Luxembourgish selwer (“self”), Yiddish זעלב (zelb, “same”), Danish selv (“self”), Elfdalian siuov (“self”), Faroese sjálvur (“self”), Icelandic sjálfur (“self”), Norwegian Bokmål selv, Norwegian Nynorsk sjølv, Swedish själv (“self”), Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌱𐌰 (silba, “self”).

  1. inherited from *selbʰ-✻ — “one's own”
  2. inherited from *selbaz✻
  3. inherited from self
  4. inherited from salve

Definitions

  1. Himself, herself, itself, themself, themselves

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

    • This argument was put forward by the defendant self.
    • Now that I put on my glasses I could see that the hut was empty but for our two selves; that it must have been absolutely empty till we entered.

  2. Myself, oneself.

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

  3. One individual's personality, character, demeanor, or disposition.

    • She remained her usual cheerful self despite recent setbacks
  4. ›+ 15 more definitions

    1. The subject of one's own experience of phenomena

      The subject of one's own experience of phenomena: perception, emotions, thoughts.

      • Portia: To these injunctions every one doth swear That comes to hazard for my worthless self.

    2. An individual person as the object of the person's own reflective consciousness (plural…

      An individual person as the object of the person's own reflective consciousness (plural selves).

      • 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.
      • The preposterous altruism too![…]Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

    3. Self-interest or personal advantage.

    4. A seedling produced by self-pollination (plural selfs).

    5. A flower having its colour uniform as opposed to variegated.

    6. Any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to…

      Any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogenic, or xenogenic).

      • In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

    7. To fertilize by the same individual

      To fertilize by the same individual; to self-fertilize or self-pollinate.

    8. To fertilize by the same strain

      To fertilize by the same strain; to inbreed.

    9. Having its own or a single nature or character throughout, as in colour, composition,…

      Having its own or a single nature or character throughout, as in colour, composition, etc., without addition or change; of the same kind; unmixed.

      • a self bow: one made from a single piece of wood
      • a self flower or plant: one which is wholly of one colour

    10. Same, identical.

      • self-coloured
      • I am made of that self mettle as my sister.

    11. Belonging to oneself

      Belonging to oneself; own.

    12. Of or relating to any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the…

      Of or relating to any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogenic, or xenogenic).

    13. A surname.

      • Kansas has self-imposed a four-game suspension for head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend to begin this season along with several other sanctions, the school announced Wednesday.

    14. A freed slave surname originating as an occupation.

    15. An unincorporated community in Boone County, Arkansas, United States.

The neighborhood

Derived

antiself, catself, dreamself, ego-self, no-self, note to self, not-self, ownself, polyself, salicide, self-abuse, self-care, self-centered, self-contained, selfdom, selfer, self goal, selfheal, selfhood, self-hosted, selficide, selfie, selfish, selfism, selfist, selfless, selflike, selfline, selfly, selfname, selfness, selfsame, selfsameness, selfship, selfsome, selfward, selfwards, selfy, selvage, selving · +7 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at self. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01self02disposition03disposed04inclined05tendency06organisation07standard08growing09raising10maturity

A definitional loop anchored at self. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at self

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA