himself

Syllables: him·self/hɪmˈsɛlf/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/hɪmˈself/

himself pronoun: him; the male object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.

Pronoun (1)

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

(masculine, personal, pronoun, reflexive, singular, third-person) Him; the male object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject
- He injured himself.
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
(emphatic, masculine, personal, pronoun, singular, third-person) He; used as an intensifier, often to emphasize that the referent is the exclusive participant in the predicate
- He was injured himself.
- Therefore the Lord himſelfe ſhal giue you a ſigne:[…].1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 7:14, column 2
(Ireland, masculine, personal, pronoun, singular, third-person) The subject or non-reflexive object of a predicate; he himself.
- Yet it is that himselfe had been liberally gratified by his Unkle with militarie rewards, before ever he went to warres.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 7, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- With shame remembers, while himself was one / Of the same herd, himself the same had done.Sir John Denham (1614-1669)
(Ireland, masculine, personal, pronoun, singular, third-person) The subject or non-reflexive object of a predicate; he (used of upper-class gentlemen, or sarcastically, of men who imagine themselves to be more important than others)
- Has himself come down to breakfast yet?
- Have you seen himself yet this morning?

Pronoun (2) capitalized: Himself

Himself

(honorific) Honorific alternative letter-case form of himself, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.

himself meaning in Arabic

himself in Arabic

(emphatic, exclusive) he: نَفْسَهُ nafsahu

Examples of himself in a sentence

The architect of modern science was himself not very modern.2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:
Dennis: His glass is there and himself is in the toilet.1998, Kirk Jones, Waking Ned, Tomboy films:

All 40 example sentences with himself

Synonyms of himself

Forms of himself

reflexive-of	he
feminine	herself
neuter	itself
plural	themselves
singular gender-neutral	himself
singular gender-neutral	themselves
singular gender-neutral	themself
alternative honorific	Himself
alternative form (obsolete)	himselfe
alternative form (obsolete)	himselve

Origin of himself

From Middle English hymself, from Old English him selfum. Equivalent to him + -self.

Words formed from himself

Words that rhyme with himself

38 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about himself

What does himself mean?: Himself means him; the male object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.
What is himself in Arabic?: Himself in Arabic is نَفْسَهُ (nafsahu). See Himself meaning in Arabic.
How do you use himself in a sentence?: The architect of modern science was himself not very modern.
What part of speech is himself?: Himself is a pronoun.
How do you pronounce himself?: Himself is pronounced /hɪmˈsɛlf/.

Words near himself in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: himself (page history and authors); Himself (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-himself.wav, en-us-himself.ogg.

Cite this entry: “himself.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/himself. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.