myself
See also: Myself
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English myself, meself, me-self, me sylf, from Old English mē self, mē seolf (“myself”), equivalent to me (pronoun) + self (pronoun), later partly reinterpreted as my + self (noun). Compare Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
myself (reflexive case of I)
- (reflexive) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject. [from 9th c.]
- I taught myself.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
- Personally, for my part; used in apposition to I, sometimes for simple emphasis and sometimes with implicit exclusion of any others performing the activity described. [from 10th c.]
- In my normal state of body or mind.
- Me (as the object of a verb or preposition). [from 10th c.]
- I feel like myself.
- (archaic) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- And my selfe have knowen a Gentleman, a chiefe officer of our crowne, that by right and hope of succession (had he lived unto it) was to inherit above fifty thousand crownes a yeere good land […].
- 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged:
- Myself am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.
- (India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...
- Myself John.
Usage notesEdit
- Use where I could be used is mostly poetic or archaic, except with a coordinating conjunction, such as and.
- Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) reports opposition to the intensifier use, especially where I could be used.
- AP Stylebook Online (2010) reports opposition to the intensifier use as reflexive pronouns (like myself) should not be used instead of objective pronouns (like me).
SynonymsEdit
- (reflexive pronoun): me
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
me, reflexive form of me
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in apposition with I; personally
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See alsoEdit
English personal pronouns
| personal pronoun | possessive pronoun |
possessive determiner | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subjective | objective | reflexive | |||||
| first person | singular | I me (colloquial) |
me | myself | mine | my mine (before vowels, archaic) | |
| plural | we | us | ourselves ourself |
ours | our | ||
| second person | singular | standard, formal | you | you | yourself | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) |
your |
| archaic, informal | thou | thee | thyself theeself |
thine | thy thine (before vowels) | ||
| plural | standard | you ye (archaic) |
you | yourselves | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) |
your | |
| colloquial | you all | you all | – | – | your all's (nonstandard) | ||
| informal / dialectal | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | ||||||
| third person | singular | masculine | he | him | himself hisself (archaic) |
his hisn (obsolete outside dialects) |
his |
| feminine | she | her | herself | hers hern (obsolete outside dialects) |
her | ||
| neuter | it | it | itself | its his (archaic) |
its his (archaic) | ||
| genderless, nonstandard | they | them | themself, themselves | theirs | their | ||
| genderless, nonspecific (formal) |
one | one | oneself | – | one's | ||
| plural | they | them | themselves | theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects) |
their | ||