# myself
## English
### Alternative forms

* meself (non-standard)
* myselfe (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English myself, meself, from Old English mē selfum and similar phrases, equivalent to me + self, later partly reinterpreted as my + self / -self. Cognate with Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), German mich selbst, mir selbst (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).

### Pronunciation

* (stressed) IPA: /maɪˈsɛlf/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* (unstressed) IPA: /məˈsɛlf/
* Hyphenation: my‧self
* Rhymes: -ɛlf

### Pronoun

myself (reflexive case of I)
* (reflexive pronoun) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject. [from 9th c.]
    I taught myself.
** 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
* Personally, for my part; used in apposition to I, sometimes for simple emphasis and sometimes with implicit exclusion of any others performing the activity described. [from 10th c.]
* In my normal state of body or mind.
* Me (as the object of a verb or preposition). [from 10th c.]
    I feel like myself.
* (archaic) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]
** 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:And my selfe have knowen a Gentleman, a chiefe officer of our crowne, that by right and hope of succession (had he lived unto it) was to inherit above fifty thousand crownes a yeere good land […].
** 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged:Myself am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.
* (India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...
    Myself John.

#### Usage notes

* Use where I could be used is mostly poetic or archaic, except with a coordinating conjunction, such as and.
* Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) reports opposition to the intensifier use, especially where I could be used.
* AP Stylebook Online (2010) reports opposition to the intensifier use as reflexive pronouns (like myself) should not be used instead of objective pronouns (like me).

#### Synonyms

* (reflexive pronoun): me

#### Related terms

* myselves
* I'll see myself out

#### 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 |

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* myselve

### Etymology

From Old English mē self, mē seolf, equivalent to my +‎ self.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /miːˈsɛlf/, /miˈsɛlf/

### Pronoun

myself
* myself

#### Descendants

* English: myself
* Scots: mysel
* Yola: meezil

#### References

* “mī-self, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.