oneself

Etymology

A contracted form of one's self (Mid-16th century). Equivalent to one +‎ -self.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /wʌnˈsɛlf/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛlf

Pronoun

oneself (reflexive form of the indefinite personal pronoun one, formerly sometimes two words: one's self)

A person's self: general form of himself, herself, themself or yourself.
Teaching oneself to swim can be dangerous.
- 2025 April 28, Madeline Holcombe, “It might be time to ‘reparent’ yourself. Here’s how to get started”, in CNN‎:
  If attending to your childhood wounds and responding with kindness feels selfish, it is important to remember that compassion for oneself often makes people more compassionate to others, Lev said.

Usage notes

This pronoun can be used for emphasis or to make a verb reflexive.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

a person's self: general form of himself, herself, themself or yourself

Arabic: نَفْس (ar) (nafs)
Catalan: es (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 自己 (zi⁶ gei²)

Hokkien: 家己 (zh-min-nan) (ka-kī)

Mandarin: 自己 (zh) (zìjǐ), 自身 (zh) (zìshēn), 自個兒 / 自个儿 (zh) (zìgěr)
Dutch: zichzelf (nl), zich (nl)
Esperanto: mem (eo)
Finnish: itsensä (fi)
French: soi-même (fr)
Galician: un mesmo, si mesmo, se (gl), si (gl) (prepositional)
German: selbst (de), sich (de)
Hindi: स्वयं (hi) (svayã), ख़ुद (xud)
Hungarian: maga (hu), önmaga (hu), saját maga
Italian: sé (it), se stesso m, se stessa f
Japanese: 自分 (ja) (じぶん, jibun), 自分自身 (ja) (じぶんじしん, jibun jishin), 自身 (ja) (じしん, jishin), 自己 (ja) (じこ, jiko)
Korean: 자신(自身) (ko) (jasin), 자기(自己) (ko) (jagi)
Mari:
Eastern Mari: шке (ške)
Mauritian Creole: limem
Persian: خود (fa) (xud, xod), نفس (fa) (nafs)
Polish: siebie (pl), sobie (pl)
Portuguese: se (pt), si (pt) (prepositional)
Quechua: kiki
Russian: (nominative) сам (ru) (sam), (genitive, accusative) себя́ (ru) (sebjá), (dative, prepositional) себе́ (ru) (sebé), (etc.)
Sanskrit: स्वयम् (sa) (svayam)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: se
Spanish: sí mismo, uno mismo (es)
Swedish: sig själv, sig (sv), en själv
Tamil: தான் (ta) (tāṉ)
Telugu: తాను (te) (tānu)
Thai: ตัวเอง (th) (dtuua-eeng)
Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kendi başına (tr), ^{(please verify)} kendi kendine (tr), ^{(please verify)} öz başına (tr)
Unami: nihëlàchi
Urdu: خود (xud)
Vietnamese: mình (vi)