Self

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self¹

  • /ˈsɛlf/
  • /ˈsɛf/
  • /ˈsɛl/ Northumbria

Rhymes with -ɛlf

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *swé?

Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der.

Proto-Germanic *selbaz

Old English self

Middle English self

English self

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”).

pronoun selves · selfe · silf · silfe

  1. obsolete, rare Himself, herself, itself, themself, themselves; that specific (person mentioned). This argument was put forward by the defendant self.
  2. humorous Myself, oneself. I made out a cheque, payable to self, which cheered me up somewhat.

noun selves · selfs · selfe · silf · silfe

  1. One individual's personality, character, demeanor, or disposition. She remained her usual cheerful self despite recent setbacks
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Self-interest or personal advantage.
  5. A seedling produced by self-pollination (plural selfs).
  6. A flower having its colour uniform as opposed to variegated.
  7. 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). Similarity profiles between helper T cell epitopes (of self or microbial antigens and allergens) and human or microbial SWISSPROT collections were produced. For each antigen, both collections yielded largely overlapping profiles, demonstrating that self-nonself discrimination does not rely on qualit

Similar: cyberself, herself, himself, itself, myself, non-self, oneself, one's self, ourselves, technoself, themselves, thyself

verb selfs · selfing · selfed · selfe · silf

  1. To fertilize by the same individual; to self-fertilize or self-pollinate.
  2. To fertilize by the same strain; to inbreed.

adjective selfe · silf · silfe

  1. 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
  2. obsolete Same, identical. self-coloured
  3. obsolete Belonging to oneself; own.
  4. 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). Similarity profiles between helper T cell epitopes (of self or microbial antigens and allergens) and human or microbial SWISSPROT collections were produced. For each antigen, both collections yielded largely overlapping profiles, demonstrating that self-nonself discrimination does not rely on qualit

Self²

Where it comes from

* From self. A surname taken up by freed slaves, who have become of themselves, they being self-owned.

proper noun

  1. 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.
  2. A freed slave surname originating as an occupation.
  3. An unincorporated community in Boone County, Arkansas, United States.

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