Skip to main content
PlainSpell

self

/ˈsɛlf/pronoun, noun, verb, adjective

self is spelled S-E-L-F: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 178 times per million words in written English, the 565th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a pronoun, self means “Myself, oneself” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in self?

Letters4: S-E-L-F
Syllables1
In writing178 times per million words; the 565th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is self?

Self appears 178 times per million words in written English, the 565th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce self?

  • /ˈsɛlf/
  • /ˈsɛf/
  • /ˈsɛl/

Self has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-self.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-self-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with self?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as self from its last stressed vowel (/ɛlf/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of self

  • selves plural
  • selfs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • selfing participle, present
  • selfed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does self mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

pronoun

  1. 1

    obsoleterareHimself, herself, itself, themself, themselves; that specific (person mentioned).

    This argument was put forward by the defendant self.

  2. 2

    Myself, oneself.

    I made out a cheque, payable to self, which cheered me up somewhat.

noun

  1. 1

    One individual's personality, character, demeanor, or disposition.

    She remained her usual cheerful self despite recent setbacks

  2. 2

    The subject of one's own experience of phenomena: perception, emotions, thoughts.

  3. 3

    An individual person as the object of the person's own reflective consciousness (plural selves).

  4. 4

    Self-interest or personal advantage.

  5. 5

    A seedling produced by self-pollination (plural selfs).

  6. 6

    A flower having its colour uniform as opposed to variegated.

  7. 7

    Any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogenic, or xenogenic).

verb

  1. 1

    To fertilize by the same individual; to self-fertilize or self-pollinate.

  2. 2

    To fertilize by the same strain; to inbreed.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having its own or a single nature or character throughout, as in colour, composition, etc., without addition or change; of the same kind; unmixed.

    a self bow: one made from a single piece of wood

  2. 2

    obsoleteSame, identical.

    self-coloured

  3. 3

    obsoleteBelonging to oneself; own.

  4. 4

    Of or relating to any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogenic, or xenogenic).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Self in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsoi (individual person as the object of own…), auto- (of, by, in or with oneself or itself)
GermanSelbst (individual person as the object of own…), selbst-, auto- (of, by, in or with oneself or itself)
Portuguesesi-próprio (individual person as the object of own…), auto- (of, by, in or with oneself or itself)
Spanishyo, ser, uno mismo (individual person as the object of own…), auto- (of, by, in or with oneself or itself)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does self come from?

From Middle English salve, self, silf, from Old English self, seolf, sylf, from Proto-Germanic *selbaz, from Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ- (“one's own”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after self