herself

English

Alternative forms

• Herself (honorific)

Etymology

From Middle English. Equivalent to her +‎ -self.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɜːˈsɛlf/, /əsɛlf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɝˈsɛlf/, /ɚsɛlf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: her‧self
• Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

herself (the third person singular, feminine, personal pronoun, the reflexive form of she, masculine himself, neuter itself, gender-neutral singular themself or themselves, plural themselves)

1. (reflexive) Her; the female object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.

   She injured herself.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.

2. (emphatic) She; an intensive repetition of the female subject, often used to indicate the exclusiveness of that person as the only satisfier of the predicate.

   She was injured herself.

3. (Ireland) The subject or non-reflexive object of a predicate; she (used of upper-class ladies, or sarcastically, of women who imagine themselves to be more important than others)

   What's herself up to this time?

   Have you seen herself yet this morning?

Derived terms

• every woman for herself

Translations

See also

Anagrams

• Flesher, flesher