self-absorbed

adj

"self-absorbed" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“self-absorbed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Overly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.

Corpus desk

Index EN-self-absorbed · self-absorbed · English

self-absorbed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for self-absorbed
PropertyValue
Headwordself-absorbed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “self-absorbed” in English

self-absorbedranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

self-absorbed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Overly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for self-absorbed, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From self- + absorbed. The correct English form is self-absorbed, spelled S-E-L-F---A-B-S-O-R-B-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Overly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how self-absorbed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I don't want to call him self-absorbed but he was more concerned with the scratch on his car than the people in the car he hit.

Etymology

From self- + absorbed.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "self-absorbed"?
"self-absorbed" is spelled S-E-L-F---A-B-S-O-R-B-E-D.
What does "self-absorbed" mean?
As an adjective, "self-absorbed" means: Overly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.
What is the origin of the word "self-absorbed"?
From self- + absorbed. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list