self
- 1A person's own being, the inner 'I' that thinks, feels, and is aware of itself.
Like stepping back to watch yourself as if you were another person.
Meditation, he claimed, let him observe his own self with unusual clarity.
The memoir traces how grief reshaped her sense of self over a decade.
UsageCommon phrases: sense of self, your true self. The plural is selves.
Similarego, identity, psyche, soul, being
Note
This is the self as a person knows it from inside, both the "I" that observes and the "me" being observed. Without an article it can take on moral weight, though in sense of self it stays neutral. A character in W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918) condemns altruism as "an insane immolation of self," which sets self against selflessness rather than naming a person.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- W. B. Maxwell wrote The Mirror and the Lamp, published in 1918. en.wikisource.org
- The novel contains the exact phrase "an insane immolation of self" in a condemnation of altruism. en.wiktionary.org
- 2An individual's personality, character, and disposition: the kind of person they characteristically are.
The illness left him a shadow of his former self for months.
He brings his competitive self to every board game, no matter how trivial.
UsageUsually a possessive and an adjective: her old self, a shadow of his former self.
Similarpersonality, character, nature, side, persona
Note
Almost always framed by a possessive and an adjective: her usual cheerful self, his former self. The adjective does the describing, which is why "she was her old self again" signals recovery rather than reinvention. The word can also carry real philosophical weight. Roy Porter's Flesh in the Age of Reason (2003) describes Locke's self as "the bit-by-bit product" of experience.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Roy Porter wrote Flesh in the Age of Reason, first published in 2003. archive.org
- Porter describes Locke's conception of the self using the exact phrase "the bit-by-bit product", referring to experience. everand.com
- 3Regard for one's own gain: the self-interest or personal advantage that motivates a choice.
The award honors volunteers who have consistently placed service above self.
In his sermons he warns against the quiet pull of self that corrupts good intentions.
UsageOften set against others: service above self.
Oppositealtruism, selflessness
- 4A humorous or commercial way of referring to oneself; equivalent to 'myself,' as on a check, ticket or form.
Asked on the form who would collect the parcel, she simply wrote 'self'.
The pass admits self and accompanying family for the weekend.
UsageNo article, on forms and checks: payable to self.
Similarmyself
Note
Clerical shorthand that turns the writer into the payee: a check made out "payable to self" sends the money straight back to the person who signed it. Carried into ordinary talk, that stiffness becomes the joke, a mock-official way of saying "me."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- A cheque payable to self makes its writer the payee. icici.bank.in
Less common meanings
- 5The very same; identical, pointing to one and the same thing.
I am made of that self mettle as my sister.
c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”Note
The adjective Shakespeare reached for when "same" needed weight: "I am made of that self mettle as my sister," in King Lear. It usually follows that or these: "these self Hills" in Raleigh's Historie of the World (1614), and "that self moment" in Dryden's Palamon and Arcite (1700). Today it survives only fused into selfsame.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The quoted words occur in Shakespeare's King Lear; the speaker is Regan, in Act 1, scene 1. folger.edu
- Raleigh's Historie of the World contains the phrase these self Hills. en.wiktionary.org
- Raleigh's Historie of the World was first published in 1614. omeka.library.uvic.ca
- Dryden's Palamon and Arcite contains the phrase that self moment. gutenberg.org
- Dryden's Palamon and Arcite was first published in 1700, in Fables Ancient and Modern. gutenberg.org
- 6Himself, herself, itself or themselves, the very person already mentioned.
This argument was put forward by the defendant self.
Note
An emphatic pronoun that follows a noun and singles out that very person: the defendant self, the abbot self. Its Germanic relatives still do this work. Old English self comes from Proto-Germanic *selbaz, and it is cognate with German selbst and Dutch zelf. English, though, has handed the job to himself, herself and themselves, and it keeps self alive chiefly in compounds and in oneself.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Old English self derives from Proto-Germanic *selbaz. en.wiktionary.org
- German selbst and Dutch zelf are cognates of English self. en.wiktionary.org
- 7Belonging to oneself; one's own, as distinct from another's.
Note
Older English could put self before a noun where we now say own, marking something as belonging to that very person. Nothing of this use survives independently, so in modern writing it reads as deliberate archaism. Unless that is the effect you want, own or a possessive pronoun is the safe choice.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Historically, self could function as an adjective meaning one's own. en.wiktionary.org
- 8The molecules, cells and tissues of an organism's own body, which the immune system normally leaves alone rather than attacking as foreign.
- 9Relating to a molecule, cell, or tissue that belongs to an organism's own body rather than a foreign one.
- 10Having a single, uniform nature throughout: one color or composition, without addition, mixture, or change.
- 11To fertilize a plant with its own pollen, or to breed within a single line rather than crossing.
- 12A seedling produced when a plant pollinates itself rather than crossing with another individual.
- 13A flower whose color is uniform throughout rather than variegated or patterned.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Proto-Germanic *selbaz gave Old English self (also seolf, sylf), which became Middle English self (also silf, sulf). Dutch zelf, German selbst, and Gothic silba are among its relatives in other languages.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Old English self, also seolf and sylf, derives from Proto-Germanic *selbaz. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English self, also silf and sulf, descends from Old English self. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch zelf is a cognate of English self. en.wiktionary.org
- German selbst is a cognate of English self. en.wiktionary.org
- Gothic silba is a cognate of English self. en.wiktionary.org