itself

See also: it self

English

Alternative forms

• it self, it selfe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English hit-self, equivalent to it +‎ -self.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪtˈsɛlf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ɪtˈself/
• (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /ɪtˈsɛl/
• Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

itself (the third person singular, neuter, personal pronoun, the reflexive form of it, masculine himself, feminine herself, gender-neutral themself, plural themselves)

1. (reflexive pronoun) it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject

   When the opportunity presented itself, no feasible course of action suggested itself (to us).

   • 2014 December 2, David DiSalvo, “Are You Vulnerable to the Hipster Effect?”, in Psychology Today‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 August 2025:

     The researchers posit that something they call the “hipster effect” asserts itself in human populations no matter how individualistic we imagine ourselves to be, because it’s individuality itself that sparks conformity.

   • 2024 May 21, Arwa Mahdawi, “Sex-positive feminism had its moment – and now it has been replaced by voluntary celibacy”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 June 2024:

     Nevertheless, Bumble, the dating app which once styled itself as a beacon of women’s empowerment because heterosexual women had to make the first move, appears to have missed the memo.

2. (emphatic) it; used to intensify the subject, especially to emphasize that it is the only participant in the predicate

   The door itself is quite heavy.

   • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv, page 298:

     Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all melancholy fits; a charm,as Peter de la Seine and many other writers affirme,a banquet it ſelfe;he gives inſtance in diſcontented Menelaus that was ſo often freed by Helenas faire face: and ^hTully, 3 Tusc. cites Epicurus as a chiefe patron of this Tenent.

   • 1933 March 4, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 0:00:55 from the start, in Inaugural Address‎^[3]:

     So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

     (see also q:Franklin D. Roosevelt#First_Inaugural_Address_(1933))

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 392, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish):

     Lenin's idea of party hegemony developed naturally into that of the party's 'leading role' in a socialist society-i.e. into a despotism based on the principle that the party always knows better than the community itself what are the latter's interests, needs, and even desires […]

   • 2014 December 2, David DiSalvo, “Are You Vulnerable to the Hipster Effect?”, in Psychology Today‎^[4], archived from the original on 30 August 2025:

     The researchers posit that something they call the “hipster effect” asserts itself in human populations no matter how individualistic we imagine ourselves to be, because it’s individuality itself that sparks conformity.

3. (emphatic, archaic) it; used to refer back to an earlier subject
   • 1842, Andrew Ure, A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines:

     The oil by degrees gets covered with a curdy mass, which after some time settles to the bottom, while itself becomes limpid and colorless.

Synonyms

• itsself (obsolete)

Derived terms

• a house divided against itself cannot stand
• being-for-itself
• being-in-itself
• dense-in-itself
• end in itself
• history repeats itself
• in and of itself
• in itself
• in-itselfness
• lend itself to
• of itself
• pay for itself
• repeat itself
• simplicity itself
• suggest itself
• the trash takes itself out
• thing-in-itself
• thing in itself
• unto itself
• write itself

Translations

(reflexive) it

• Arabic: نَفْسُهُ m (nafsuhu), نَفْسُهَا f (nafsuhā)
• Belarusian: сябе́ (sjabjé), -цца (-cca) (verb ending)
• Catalan: es (ca)
• Czech: sám (cs), se (cs), sebe (cs), sám sebe
• Dutch: zichzelf (nl)
• Esperanto: sin (eo)
• Finnish: itsensä (fi)
• French: se (fr)
• Galician: se (gl)
• German: von selbst, von allein, selbst (de), sich selbst
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἑαυτό (heautó), ἑαυτῷ (heautōî), ἑαυτοῦ (heautoû)

• Hungarian: (nominative) maga (hu), (accusative) magát (hu)
• Italian: sé (it) m or f
• Khakas: позы (pozı)
• Latin: sē (la)/sēsē, sibi, suī (la)
• Mauritian Creole: limem
• Navajo: tʼáá bí
• Norwegian: seg
• Polish: się (pl)
• Portuguese: se (pt), a si mesmo
• Russian: -ся (ru) (-sja), себя́ (ru) (sebjá), сам себя́ (sam sebjá)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: iežas

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: se

• Spanish: se (es), solo (es), a si mismo, por si mismo
• Tuvan: боду (bodu)
• Ukrainian: се́бе (sébe)
• Welsh: ei hun, ei hunan (South Wales)
• Yakut: бэйэтэ (beyete)

(emphatic) it

• American Sign Language: A@Chesthigh SmallFrontandback
• Arabic: نَفْسُهُ m (nafsuhu), نَفْسُهَا f (nafsuhā)
• Belarusian: яно́ само́ n (janó samó)
• Bulgarian: самият (bg) (samijat)
• Catalan: mateix (ca)
• Czech: sám (cs), samotný (cs), o sobě, sám o sobě, jako takový
• Dutch: zelf (nl)
• Esperanto: mem (eo)
• Finnish: itse (fi)
• French: soi-même (fr)
• Galician: mesmo (gl)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: αὐτό (autó)

• Hungarian: maga (hu)
• Italian: se stesso m, sé stesso m
• Latin: ipsum (la)
• Latvian: viņš pats m, viņa pati f
• Polish: ono samo n
• Portuguese: ele/ela mesmo, próprio/própria
• Russian: оно́ само́ (onó samó)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: ieš

• Slovak: ono samo n
• Spanish: sí mismo, mismo (es) (postpositive), en sí
• Ukrainian: воно́ само́ n (vonó samó), само́ (samó)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 它本身 (zh) (tā běn shēn)

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} si (eo), ^{(please verify)} mem (eo)
• German: ^{(please verify)} sich selbst
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} ipse
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} se stesso
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} それ自身 (それじしん, sore jishin)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 그것 자체 (geugeot jache)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} sig (sv), ^{(please verify)} sig själv (reflexive), ^{(please verify)} i sig (sv) as in, "the door itself"

See also

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.

Anagrams

• flites, elfist, filets, fistle, stifle, fliest