herself
Syllables: her·selfUK/hɜːˈsɛlf/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/æˈsɛl/
herself pronoun: her; the feminine object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.
Pronoun (1)
herself (the third person singular, feminine, personal pronoun, the reflexive form of she, masculine himself, neuter itself, gender-neutral singular themself or themselves, plural themselves)
- Her; the feminine object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.
- Sandra injured herself.
- The United States is causing problems for herself with this policy.
- She; an intensifier of the female subject or object, often used to indicate the directness or exclusiveness of that person .
- She was injured herself.
- The subject or non-reflexive object of a predicate; she (used of upper-class ladies, or sarcastically, of women who imagine themselves to be more important than others)
- What's herself up to this time?
- Have you seen herself yet this morning?
Pronoun (2) capitalized: Herself
Herself
- Honorific alternative letter-case form of herself, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
- It is certain that Juan Diego was a virtuous man, who tried to direct his life along the road of righteousness, of honesty, of virtue, and to make all that pleased God bloom, who was chosen by the Mother of God Herself to be Her [i.e. the mother's] messenger.2006, Eduardo Chávez, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego: The Historical Evidence, →ISBN
herself meaning in Arabic
herself in Arabic
- (as intensifier) she
- نَفْسُهَا nafsuhā
Examples of herself in a sentence
- Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Lizzo, who is known for messages of self-love and wider acceptance, has recently said as much as she shared that she is encouraging a stance of body neutrality for herself and others.2023 May 29, Madeline Holcombe, “Lizzo is teaching us about body neutrality. Here is what it means and how to get there”, in CNN, archived...
- There's Jimmy Hanlon was never his own man since, and I had me nose broke on me—I find it yet—and some says there was a wee girl from Tanderagee got herself killed.1915, Charles L Graves, Humours of Irish life, pages 241-242:
Forms of herself
| reflexive-of | she |
|---|---|
| masculine | himself |
| neuter | itself |
| singular gender-neutral | themself |
| singular gender-neutral | themselves |
| plural | themselves |
| alternative honorific | Herself |
Origin of herself
From Middle English. Equivalent to her + -self.
Words formed from herself
Words that rhyme with herself
38 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- atself
- Godself
- Guelph
- hirself
- it self
- m'self
- themself
- xyrself
- zirself
- -self
- Belf
- Chelf
- coself
- eirself
- emself
- Guelf
- Helf
- hisself
- hitself
- ittself
- know thyself
- meself
- off-the-shelf
- one's self
- oneself
- perself
- Relph
- theeself
- theirself
- theyself
- thonself
- thyself
- xemself
- y'allself
- yerself
- yo'self
- yoself
- youself
Questions about herself
- What does herself mean?
- Herself means her; the feminine object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.
- What is herself in Arabic?
- Herself in Arabic is نَفْسُهَا (nafsuhā). See Herself meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use herself in a sentence?
- Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
- What part of speech is herself?
- Herself is a pronoun.
- How do you pronounce herself?
- Herself is pronounced /hɜːˈsɛlf/ (UK).
Words near herself in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: herself (page history and authors); Herself (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-herself.ogg.
Cite this entry: “herself.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/herself. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.