Wiktionary

myself

See also: Myself

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English myself, meself, from Old English mē selfum and similar phrases, equivalent to me + self, later partly reinterpreted as my + self / -self. Cognate with Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), German mich selbst, mir selbst (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).

Pronunciation

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  • (stressed) IPA(key): /maɪˈsɛlf/
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • (unstressed) IPA(key): /məˈsɛlf/
  • Hyphenation: my‧self
  • Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

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myself (reflexive case of I)

  1. (reflexive pronoun) 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.
    (I) don’t think much of his new car, myself.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      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.”
  2. 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.]
    I myself have witnessed the event.
  3. In my normal state of body or mind.
    I feel like myself.
  4. (proscribed) Me, as the object of a verb or preposition without a reflexive trigger. Sometimes used for intensifying the pronoun of oneself. [from 10th c.]
    Give the ball to John or myself.
  5. (archaic, now proscribed) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]
    My wife and myself want to go on vacation.
  6. (India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...
    Myself John.

Usage notes

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  • Use where I could be used is mostly poetic or archaic, except with a coordinating conjunction, such as and. However, this usage is non-standard.
  • 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).

Synonyms

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  • (reflexive pronoun): me
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Translations

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See also

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English personal pronouns

Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are in italics.

personal pronoun possessive
pronoun		 possessive
determiner
subjective objective reflexive
first
person		 singular I
me (colloquial)		 me myself
me
mysen		 mine my
mine (before vowels, archaic)
me
plural we us ourselves
ourself
oursen		 ours our
second
person		 singular standard
(historically
formal) 		you you yourself
yoursen		 yours
yourn (obsolete outside dialects)		 your
archaic
(historically
informal) 		thou thee thyself
theeself
thysen		 thine thy
thine (before vowels)
plural standard you
ye (archaic)		 you yourselves yours
yourn (obsolete outside dialects)		 your
colloquial you all
y'all
you guys		 you all
y'all
you guys		 y'allselves y'all's
you guys'
your guys' (proscribed)		 y'all's
your all's (nonstandard)
you guys'
your guys' (proscribed)
informal /
dialectal 		(see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third
person 		singular masculine he him himself
hisself (archaic)
hissen		 his
hisn (obsolete outside dialects)		 his
feminine she her herself
hersen		 hers
hern (obsolete outside dialects)		 her
neuter it
hit		 it
hit		 itself
hitself		 its
his (archaic)		 its
his (archaic)
hits
genderless1 they them themself, themselves theirs their
nonspecific
(formal) 		one one oneself – one's
plural they them
hem, 'em		 themselves
theirsen		 theirs
theirn (obsolete outside dialects)		 their

1 See Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns for attested neopronouns.

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English mē self, mē seolf, equivalent to my +‎ self.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /miːˈsɛlf/, /miˈsɛlf/

Pronoun

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myself

  1. myself

Descendants

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  • English: myself
  • Scots: mysel
  • Yola: meezil

References

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