myself
- 1Refers back to the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition when the speaker is also its subject.
I taught myself to play the guitar over the summer.
I poured myself a glass of water before sitting down.
UsageUse myself as an object referring back to I in the same clause: I hurt myself, but she helped me.
Note
In a clause like I taught myself, the speaker acts on the speaker, and myself is the form that marks it. Thinks I to myself, in Joseph C. Lincoln's Mr. Pratt's Patients (1913), keeps the old idiom of inward speech alive.
- 2Used in apposition to 'I' for emphasis, stressing that the speaker personally (and sometimes no one else) performs the action.
I myself have always doubted that the figures were accurate.
She let others take the credit, but I wrote the report myself.
UsageComes right after I (I myself think) or at the end of the clause: I wrote it myself.
- 3Used as the object of a verb or preposition in place of 'me' when it does not refer back to the subject, often after 'and'; common, though some style guides advise against it.
The grant was awarded to Professor Lee and myself.
He directed all his complaints at the manager and myself.
UsageIn careful writing, say me: to Professor Lee and me. Drop the other person to test it: to me.
Similarme
- 4Stands in for I as the subject of a verb, typically coordinated with another person by and, in a use often faulted as incorrect.
"Coach Rivera and myself want to thank every parent who volunteered," the principal announced.
"Myself and the night staff worked straight through the storm," the manager told reporters.
UsageIn careful writing, use I: Coach Rivera and I want to thank you. Drop the other person to test it.
Less common meanings
- 5Refers to the speaker's normal condition of body or mind, as in feeling like one's usual self.
I simply wasn't myself during that stressful week at work.
Once the fever broke, I started to feel like myself once more.
UsageMostly in not myself, feel like myself and myself again: I wasn't myself that week.
- 6Used as the subject of a verb in the same role as 'I'; an archaic construction now out of ordinary use.
Myself am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.
1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician EnlargedMy wife and myself want to go on vacation.
Note
Standing alone before a first-person verb, myself once did the work of I, as when Nicholas Culpeper writes 'My self am confident' in The English Physician Enlarged (1653). It now survives only as deliberate archaism or in poetry. The everyday pairing 'my wife and myself want' is a different habit, treated under the paired subject use.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Myself historically served as the subject pronoun I. en.wiktionary.org
- The original prints 'My self am confident', with 'My self' as two words; Wiktionary modernizes the spelling. archive.org
- The English Physician Enlarged was first published in 1653. epapers.bham.ac.uk
- 7Used at the start of a self-introduction to state the speaker's own name, in the sense 'my name is'.
Myself Anand, calling from the Mumbai branch office.
Welcome, everyone, myself Deepa, and I shall be your guide today.
UsageIn writing, or with listeners from other countries, I'm Anand or My name is Anand is the safer choice.
Practice
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Origin
Old English mē selfum and similar phrases, made of me + self, gave Middle English myself (also meself); speakers later partly reread it as my + self or -self. Cognates include Scots mysel, West Frisian mysels, Dutch mijzelf, German mich selbst, and Norwegian Bokmål meg selv.