myself

English

Alternative forms

• meself (non-standard)
• myselfe (obsolete)

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /maɪˈsɛlf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: my‧self
• Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

myself (reflexive case of I)

1. (reflexive) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject.

   I taught 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.
3. In my normal state of body or mind.
4. Me (as the object of a verb or preposition).

   I feel like myself.

5. (archaic) I (as the subject of a verb).
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:

     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.

6. (India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...

   Myself John.

Usage notes

• 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).

Synonyms

• (reflexive pronoun): me

Related terms

• myselves

Translations

See also

Middle English

Alternative forms

• myselve

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miːˈsɛlf/, /miˈsɛlf/

Pronoun

myself

1. myself

Descendants

• English: myself
• Yola: meezil

References

• “mī-self, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.