selfishness
self·ish·ness/ˈsɛl.fɪʃ.nəs/noun
selfishness is spelled S-E-L-F-I-S-H-N-E-S-S: 11 letters and 3 syllables (self·ish·ness). It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, selfishness means “The quality of being selfish, the condition of putting one's own interests before those of others” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of selfishness is selfishnesses.
How many letters and syllables are in selfishness?
| Letters | 11: S-E-L-F-I-S-H-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: self·ish·ness |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is selfishness?
Selfishness appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th 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 selfishness?
- /ˈsɛl.fɪʃ.nəs/
Selfishness has 3 syllables, split self·ish·ness in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-selfishness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of selfishness
- selfishnesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does selfishness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality of being selfish, the condition of putting one's own interests before those of others.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Selfishness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense quality of being selfish:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | égocentrisme, égoïsme |
| German | Egoismus, Selbstsucht |
| Portuguese | egoísmo |
| Spanish | egoísmo |
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 selfishness come from?
From selfish + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).