self-love

noun

"self-love" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Regard for oneself; love of oneself.

Corpus desk

Index EN-self-love · self-love · English

self-love · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 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-love
PropertyValue
Headwordself-love
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

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

self-loveranks 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-love is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for self-love, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From self- + love. The correct English form is self-love, spelled S-E-L-F---L-O-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Regard for oneself; love of oneself.
  2. 2
    Excessive pride or vanity, overvaluing the self.
  3. 3
    Masturbation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Lizzo, who is known for messages of self-love and wider acceptance, has recently said as much as she shared that she is encouraging a stance of body neutrality for herself and others.
  2. On the question of masturbation, or self-love, once again the tantric principle applies

Etymology

From self- + love.

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-love"?
"self-love" is spelled S-E-L-F---L-O-V-E.
What does "self-love" mean?
As a noun, "self-love" means: Regard for oneself; love of oneself.
What is the origin of the word "self-love"?
From self- + love. 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