oneself

English

Etymology

A contracted form of one's self (Mid-16th century). Equivalent to one +‎ -self.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wʌnˈsɛlf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

oneself (reflexive form of the indefinite personal pronoun one, formerly sometimes two words: one's self)

1. A person's self: general form of himself, herself, themself or yourself.

   Teaching oneself to swim can be dangerous.

   • 2025 April 28, Madeline Holcombe, “It might be time to ‘reparent’ yourself. Here’s how to get started”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     If attending to your childhood wounds and responding with kindness feels selfish, it is important to remember that compassion for oneself often makes people more compassionate to others, Lev said.

Usage notes

This pronoun can be used for emphasis or to make a verb reflexive.

Synonyms

• one's self
• one's ass

Derived terms

• above oneself
• absorb oneself in
• adorn oneself with borrowed plumes
• all over oneself
• apply oneself
• assert oneself
• back oneself into a corner
• bear oneself
• behave oneself
• be oneself
• beside oneself
• besides oneself
• bless oneself
• box oneself into a corner
• break one's arm patting oneself on the back
• brick oneself
• bring oneself away
• bring oneself to
• bring out of oneself
• buy a dog and bark oneself
• by oneself
• carry oneself
• change oneself
• check in with oneself
• collect oneself
• come to oneself
• confine oneself
• contain oneself
• cop oneself on
• cover oneself in glory
• crap oneself
• create daylight between oneself and someone
• cross oneself
• cry oneself to sleep
• cut oneself
• deny oneself
• despite oneself
• dig a hole for oneself
• dig oneself in, into a hole
• do oneself a mischief
• do well for oneself
• drink oneself to death
• ease oneself
• enjoy oneself
• enlarge oneself
• expose oneself
• express oneself
• fall into oneself
• fall over oneself
• feel like oneself
• feel oneself
• fend for oneself
• find it in oneself
• find oneself
• flatter oneself
• fool to oneself
• forget oneself
• full of oneself
• gather oneself, ~ together
• get above oneself
• get ahead of oneself
• get ahold of oneself
• get oneself together
• get over oneself
• get past oneself
• give a good account of oneself
• give of oneself
• give oneself airs
• go f, fuck oneself
• grip oneself with both hands
• handle oneself
• have a dog and bark oneself
• have a word with oneself
• have tickets on oneself
• have to say for oneself
• hear oneself think
• help oneself
• hold oneself together
• hug oneself
• in spite of oneself
• keep a dog and bark oneself
• keep oneself to oneself
• keep one's hands to oneself
• keep to oneself
• kill oneself
• knock oneself out
• lash oneself to the mast
• law unto oneself
• let oneself go
• lift oneself up by one's bootstraps, …boot-tags, …own bootstraps, …own boot-tags, …own waistbands
• live within oneself
• live with oneself
• look at oneself in the mirror
• lose oneself
• lose the run of oneself
• make a name for oneself
• make an exhibition of oneself
• make a nuisance of oneself
• make a pig of oneself
• make a pig out of oneself
• make a public spectacle of oneself
• make a show of oneself
• make a spectacle of oneself
• make oneself at home
• make oneself clear
• make oneself scarce
• make something of oneself
• miss oneself
• occupy oneself
• outbrake oneself
• owe it to oneself
• pace oneself
• paint oneself into a corner
• pass oneself off as
• pee oneself
• pick oneself up off the floor
• piss oneself
• play with oneself
• pleased with oneself
• pleasure oneself
• poop oneself
• prove oneself
• pull oneself
• pull oneself together
• pull oneself up by one's (own) bootstraps
• pull the ladder up after/behind oneself
• put daylight between oneself and someone
• put oneself about
• put oneself across
• put oneself in someone's place, shoes
• put oneself out
• put oneself out of the way
• raise oneself up by one's (own) bootstraps
• read oneself in
• redeem oneself
• reiterate oneself
• relieve oneself
• repeat oneself
• resign oneself
• rub oneself off
• satisfy oneself
• say to oneself
• score on oneself
• see for oneself
• see oneself out
• sell oneself
• sell oneself short
• service oneself
• set up to oneself
• shit oneself
• shoot oneself in the foot
• show oneself
• soil oneself
• sorry for oneself
• sort oneself out
• speak for oneself
• spread oneself (too) thin
• stuck on oneself
• suit oneself
• sun oneself
• sure of oneself
• take it upon oneself
• take oneself up by one's own ears
• take upon oneself
• talk to oneself
• think for oneself
• think no end of oneself
• through oneself
• throw oneself at
• throw oneself behind
• throw oneself into
• throw oneself on someone's mercy
• tie oneself in knots
• tie oneself to the mast
• to oneself, to-oneself
• top oneself
• touch oneself
• true to oneself
• up oneself
• wash oneself of
• wet oneself
• wipe oneself

Translations

a person's self: general form of himself, herself, themself or yourself

• Arabic: نَفْس (ar) (nafs)
• Catalan: es (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 自己 (zi⁶ gei²)

  Hokkien: 家己 (zh-min-nan) (ka-kī)

  Mandarin: 自己 (zh) (zìjǐ), 自身 (zh) (zìshēn), 自個兒 / 自个儿 (zh) (zìgěr)

• Dutch: zichzelf (nl), zich (nl)
• Esperanto: mem (eo)
• Finnish: itsensä (fi)
• French: soi-même (fr)
• Galician: un mesmo, si mesmo, se (gl), si (gl) (prepositional)
• German: selbst (de), sich (de)
• Hindi: स्वयं (hi) (svayã), ख़ुद (xud)
• Hungarian: maga (hu), önmaga (hu), saját maga
• Italian: sé (it), se stesso m, se stessa f
• Japanese: 自分 (ja) (じぶん, jibun), 自分自身 (ja) (じぶんじしん, jibun jishin), 自身 (ja) (じしん, jishin), 自己 (ja) (じこ, jiko)
• Korean: 자신(自身) (ko) (jasin), 자기(自己) (ko) (jagi)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: шке (ške)

• Mauritian Creole: limem
• Persian: خود (fa) (xud, xod), نفس (fa) (nafs)
• Polish: siebie (pl), sobie (pl)
• Portuguese: se (pt), si (pt) (prepositional)
• Quechua: kiki
• Russian: (nominative) сам (ru) (sam), (genitive, accusative) себя́ (ru) (sebjá), (dative, prepositional) себе́ (ru) (sebé), (etc.)
• Sanskrit: स्वयम् (sa) (svayam)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: se

• Spanish: sí mismo, uno mismo (es)
• Swedish: sig själv, sig (sv), en själv
• Tamil: தான் (ta) (tāṉ)
• Telugu: తాను (te) (tānu)
• Thai: ตัวเอง (th) (dtuua-eeng)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kendi başına (tr), ^{(please verify)} kendi kendine (tr), ^{(please verify)} öz başına (tr)
• Unami: nihëlàchi
• Urdu: خود (xud)
• Vietnamese: mình (vi)

See also

• one
• self

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 ourn (obsolete outside dialects) 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 yous you all y'all you guys yous y'allselves all yours y'all's you guys' your guys' all your y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys' your guys' 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.