# themselves
## English
### Etymology

Morphologically them +‎ -selves.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ðɛmˈsɛlvz/, /ðəmˈsɛlvz/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: them‧selves
* Rhymes: -ɛlvz

### Pronoun

themselves (third-person, reflexive of they)
* (reflexive pronoun) The reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun. The group of people, animals, or objects previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).
    (reflexively): They’ve hurt themselves.
    (after a preposition): They fought among themselves.
    (for emphasis): They are going to try climbing Mount Everest themselves.
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
* (reflexive pronoun) The reflexive case of they, the third-person singular personal pronoun. The single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).
    (reflexively): Would whoever stole my phone please make themselves known.
    (after a preposition): I don't want anyone to fight among themselves.
    (for emphasis): Everyone must do it themselves.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 2:3:Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
** 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 18:In fact she was so busy doing all the things that anyone might, who finds themselves alone in an empty house, that she did not notice at first when it began to turn dusk and the rooms to grow dim.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:themselves.

#### Usage notes

* Regarding the use of singular themselves (as opposed to themself or e.g. himself), see the usage notes about they, themself, and he, respectively.

#### Synonyms

* 'emselves (colloquial)
* theirselves (nonstandard)
* (singular): themself (non-gender-specific), theirself (non-gender-specific, but nonstandard), himself, herself (gender-specific)

#### Translations

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

#### See also

| | | | personal pronoun | personal pronoun | personal pronoun | possessive pronoun | possessive determiner |
| | | | subjective | objective | reflexive | possessive pronoun | possessive determiner |
| first person | singular | singular | I me (colloquial) | me | myself me mysen | mine | my mine (before vowels, archaic) me |
| first person | plural | plural | we | us | ourselves ourself oursen | ours | our |
| second person | singular | standard, formal | you | you | yourself yoursen | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) | your |
| second person | singular | archaic, informal | thou | thee | thyself theeself thysen | thine | thy thine (before vowels) |
| second person | plural | standard | you ye (archaic) | you | yourselves | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) | your |
| second person | plural | colloquial | you all y'all you guys | you all y'all you guys | y'allselves | y'all's you guys' your guys' (proscribed) | y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys' your guys' (proscribed) |
| second person | plural | informal / dialectal | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (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 |
| third person | singular | feminine | she | her | herself hersen | hers hern (obsolete outside dialects) | her |
| third person | singular | neuter | it hit | it hit | itself hitself | its his (archaic) | its his (archaic) hits |
| third person | singular | genderless | they | them | themself, themselves | theirs | their |
| third person | singular | genderless, nonspecific (formal) | one | one | oneself | – | one's |
| third person | plural | plural | they | them hem, 'em | themselves theirsen | theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects) | their |