Self in Different Languages
Discover 'Self' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Self
Afrikaans self | ||
Albanian vetvetja | ||
Amharic ራስን | ||
Arabic الذات | ||
Armenian ես | ||
Assamese নিজক | ||
Aymara ukaña | ||
Azerbaijani özünü | ||
Bambara yɛrɛ | ||
Basque norberak | ||
Belarusian сябе | ||
Bengali স্ব | ||
Bhojpuri खुद | ||
Bosnian sebe | ||
Bulgarian себе си | ||
Catalan jo | ||
Cebuano kaugalingon | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 自 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 自 | ||
Corsican autore | ||
Croatian sebe | ||
Czech já | ||
Danish selv | ||
Dhivehi ނަފްސު | ||
Dogri खुद | ||
Dutch zelf | ||
English self | ||
Esperanto mem | ||
Estonian ise | ||
Ewe ame ŋutɔ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) sarili | ||
Finnish itse | ||
French soi | ||
Frisian sels | ||
Galician eu | ||
Georgian თვითონ | ||
German selbst | ||
Greek εαυτός | ||
Guarani mba'éva | ||
Gujarati સ્વ | ||
Haitian Creole pwòp tèt ou | ||
Hausa kai | ||
Hawaiian iho | ||
Hebrew עצמי | ||
Hindi स्वयं | ||
Hmong tus kheej | ||
Hungarian maga | ||
Icelandic sjálf | ||
Igbo onwe | ||
Ilocano bagi | ||
Indonesian diri | ||
Irish féin | ||
Italian se stesso | ||
Japanese 自己 | ||
Javanese awake dhewe | ||
Kannada ಸ್ವಯಂ | ||
Kazakh өзіндік | ||
Khmer ខ្លួនឯង | ||
Kinyarwanda wenyine | ||
Konkani स्वता | ||
Korean 본인 | ||
Krio sɛf | ||
Kurdish wekhev | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) خود | ||
Kyrgyz өзүн | ||
Lao ຕົນເອງ | ||
Latin sui | ||
Latvian pats | ||
Lingala yo moko | ||
Lithuanian savarankiškai | ||
Luganda obwananyini | ||
Luxembourgish selwer | ||
Macedonian себе | ||
Maithili अपन व्यक्तित्व | ||
Malagasy tena | ||
Malay diri | ||
Malayalam സ്വയം | ||
Maltese awto | ||
Maori whaiaro | ||
Marathi स्वत: चे | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯝꯁꯥꯒꯤ | ||
Mizo mahni | ||
Mongolian өөрийгөө | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ကိုယ့်ကိုယ်ကို | ||
Nepali आत्म | ||
Norwegian selv- | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kudzikonda | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଆତ୍ମ | ||
Oromo of | ||
Pashto ځان | ||
Persian خود | ||
Polish samego siebie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) auto | ||
Punjabi ਸਵੈ | ||
Quechua kikiy | ||
Romanian de sine | ||
Russian я | ||
Samoan oe lava | ||
Sanskrit स्वयं | ||
Scots Gaelic fèin | ||
Sepedi ka noši | ||
Serbian себе | ||
Sesotho boithati | ||
Shona wega | ||
Sindhi نفس | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ස්වයං | ||
Slovak ja | ||
Slovenian sebe | ||
Somali is | ||
Spanish yo | ||
Sundanese diri | ||
Swahili binafsi | ||
Swedish själv | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) sarili | ||
Tajik худ | ||
Tamil சுய | ||
Tatar үзең | ||
Telugu స్వీయ | ||
Thai ตนเอง | ||
Tigrinya ዓርሰ | ||
Tsonga wena n'wini | ||
Turkish kendini | ||
Turkmen özi | ||
Twi (Akan) ho | ||
Ukrainian себе | ||
Urdu خود | ||
Uyghur self | ||
Uzbek o'zini o'zi | ||
Vietnamese bản thân | ||
Welsh hunan | ||
Xhosa isiqu sakho | ||
Yiddish זיך | ||
Yoruba funrararẹ | ||
Zulu uqobo |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "self" can also mean "very" or "too". |
| Albanian | The word 'vetvetja' ('self') is derived from Indo-European root *swe- ('his, their, her, its'), but it also retains the older Proto-Indo-European meaning 'one's own'. |
| Amharic | The word “ራስን” also means the first, top, or beginning of someone or something. |
| Arabic | The word "الذات" can also mean "essence", "nature", or "identity". |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "ես" can also refer to "I," which aligns with its use in Indo-European languages like Latin and Greek. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "özün" also means "essence" or "nature" in Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | "Norberak" also means "alone" in Basque. |
| Belarusian | The word "сябе" is related to the word "себя" in Russian and means "myself", but it is also the reflexive form of the first-person singular pronoun in Belarusian. |
| Bengali | The original meaning of 'স্ব' was 'one's own', but through grammatical evolution it took on the meaning 'self'. |
| Bosnian | The word sebe can also refer to a person's property or belongings. |
| Bulgarian | The word "себе си" can also be used to mean "himself" or "herself". |
| Catalan | The word "jo" in Catalan has its origins in the Latin word "ego" and also means "I" or "me". |
| Cebuano | The root word of "kaugalingon" is the Tagalog word for "you," "ikaw" |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The character "自" can also mean "from," "since," or "out of its own accord." |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 自 (self) is etymologically related to 巳 (serpent, sixth Earthly Branch). |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "autore" also means "face" and derives from the Sardinian term "attare" with the same meaning |
| Croatian | The word "sebe" can also mean "to oneself" or "by oneself" in Croatian. |
| Czech | The word "já" in Czech is also an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "Jesus Christus". The phrase "Ježíš Kristus" is the traditional Czech name for Jesus Christ. |
| Danish | In Danish, selv can denote the individual, the totality of an individual's qualities, or a person's true nature as distinct from their social persona. |
| Dutch | In Dutch, "zelf" can also refer to an individual's own person, or to the true or essential nature of something. |
| Esperanto | The word 'mem' also means memory, and in some contexts can refer to the self as a thinking being. |
| Estonian | The word "ise" in Estonian has additional meanings such as "itself". |
| Finnish | The word itse also means 'alone' and is cognate with the Estonian ise and the Livonian īž. |
| French | The French word 'soi' derives from the Latin 'se' and 'suus', both meaning 'self' or 'his' respectively. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "sels" has two meanings in English: "self" and "seal". |
| Galician | Eu in Galician can mean either "I" or "self", depending on context. |
| Georgian | თვითონ also means 'by oneself' in Georgian and is related to the Old Georgian verb 'tvi-o-ba' (to rule over). |
| German | The word "selbst" in German is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "selbaz", which means "same" or "identical". |
| Greek | The word 'εαυτός' comes from the Greek words 'ε-' meaning 'one' and 'αὐτός' meaning 'same'. |
| Gujarati | સ્વ can also mean 'one's own' in Sanskrit, and is used as a prefix on many words to signify personal use or ownership (e.g. સ્વ-ગૃહ = one's own house). |
| Haitian Creole | In linguistics, "pwòp tèt ou" in Haitian Creole is sometimes used to describe something characteristic of a person. |
| Hausa | The word "kai" in Hausa can also be a possessive pronoun or an intensifier, and in some contexts may be used to denote a habitual action or a state of being. |
| Hawaiian | The word "iho" can also refer to the "lower" parts of the body like the legs and abdomen. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "עצמי" also has the connotation of "essence" or "core being". |
| Hindi | In addition to meaning 'self', 'स्वयं' can also refer to independence, agency, or autonomy. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "tus kheej" originally referred to a person's body and was later extended to mean "self" or "individual." |
| Hungarian | Hungarian "maga" comes from Proto-Uralic "maŋa" meaning "me" and has the archaic forms of "magam" and "magad". |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "sjálf" (self) is cognate with the English word "self" and the German word "selbst," and also means "alone" or "by oneself." |
| Igbo | In addition to 'self', Igbo onwe can also mean 'owner, lord, or master' or 'soul, essence, or spirit' in different contexts. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "diri" is cognate with the Sanskrit word "atman," which also means "self". |
| Irish | Féin also means 'own' and was used in Irish family names to signify 'son of' |
| Italian | In archaic usage, "se stesso" could mean "by itself" or "by himself". |
| Japanese | The word "自己" can also mean "ego" or "myself", and is often used in a philosophical context. |
| Javanese | Javanese "awake dhewe" ('self') reflects Sanskrit "atma" (‘self, soul’), referring to a person's spiritual or essential nature. |
| Kannada | The word 'ಸ್ವಯಂ' in Kannada can also refer to 'automatically' or 'spontaneously'. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "өзіндік" can also mean "own," "personal," "unique," or "characteristic."} |
| Khmer | "ខ្លួនឯង" can also mean 'alone' and is used to describe solitude or independence. |
| Korean | "본인" (self) can also mean "principle" or "subject" in Korean. |
| Kurdish | We can see the same stem in words like wekhdaz "selfish" (literally "the one who gives to himself/herself"), xewdek "autobiography" (literally "the book of himself/herself"), and xweşik "beautiful" (literally "pleasant to himself/herself"). |
| Kyrgyz | Öзүн can also refer to one's own person or one's own affairs. |
| Latin | Latin "sui" can also refer to "of him/her/itself" in certain contexts, and is often used in legal or formal settings. |
| Latvian | pats in Latvian comes from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronoun *se, which also gave rise to the word "self" in English and "sich" in German. |
| Lithuanian | The word "savarankiškai" has the alternative meaning of "independently". |
| Luxembourgish | The Luxembourghish word "selwer" derives from the Proto-Germanic word "selbaz" and is related to the English word "self". |
| Macedonian | The word "себе" can also refer to one's own person or to one's own interests. |
| Malagasy | The word "tena" is derived from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taŋa, meaning "body" or "person". This word is likely related to the Proto-Austronesian *təna, meaning "body", and to the Proto-Oceanic *tena, meaning "self". |
| Malay | The word "diri" is derived from Sanskrit, meaning "spirit" or "soul". |
| Malayalam | The word "സ്വയം" also means "by oneself" or "alone" in Malayalam. |
| Maltese | "Awto" can also mean "own" or "his/her own" in Maltese. |
| Maori | The Maori word "whaiaro" has been used to describe the concept of self, consciousness, and personal identity. |
| Marathi | The word 'स्वत: चे' in Marathi is derived from Sanskrit, where it refers to 'one's own'. |
| Mongolian | "Өөрийгөө" can also mean "one's own" or "personal". |
| Nepali | "आत्म" also means "soul" in Nepali, derived from the Sanskrit word "आत्मन्" (ātman) meaning "inner self" or "essence." |
| Norwegian | Norw. 'selv-' ('self') derives from an Old Eng. word meaning 'apart' and is cognate with Eng. 'self' but has no relation with 'soul'. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In Nyanja, the word "kudzikonda" can be traced back to the Bantu root "-zikon-," meaning "to gather," or "to be close together."} |
| Pashto | The word "ځان" can also refer to one's life, existence, or individuality. |
| Persian | The word خود (khod) in Persian can also refer to one's consciousness, identity, or inner self. |
| Polish | The original meaning of the word "samego siebie" is "oneself" and it is of the same origin as the Sanskrit word "sa-ama-ka" meaning "same to oneself". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word 'auto' in Portuguese has an additional meaning of 'car', coming from the French 'automobile'. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਸਵੈ" (self) in Punjabi also means "consciousness" or "essence". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word for "self" "de sine" originates in Latin, meaning "of oneself." |
| Russian | The word "я" also refers to the first person singular pronoun "I" and the nominative form of the word "ego" (ego). |
| Samoan | The term 'oe lava' can also signify an individual's true, unblemished essence, untouched by external influences. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word 'fèin' or 'fin' can also mean 'family', 'clan', 'tribe' or 'kindred' in various contexts. |
| Serbian | The word "себе" in Serbian, помимо значения "себя", может употребляться и в значении "в свой адрес". |
| Sesotho | The word "boithati" also refers to the inner self or essence of a person, conveying the idea of one's individuality or true nature. |
| Shona | The Shona word 'wega' also means 'a person's shadow' or 'one's other self'. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "نفس" can also mean "breath" or "life force." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "ස්වයං" is also used to refer to one's own "true" or "inner" self. |
| Slovak | "Ja", like "self" in English can also indicate "I" as it comes from the Slavic Proto-language "az". |
| Slovenian | The word also means 'selfhood' and is related to the Latin word 'sebum' ('fat') and the Sanskrit word 'sap' ('fat'). |
| Somali | The word 'is' can also mean 'body' or 'person' in Somali. |
| Spanish | "Yo" also means "I" in Spanish, as in "yo soy español" ("I am Spanish"). |
| Sundanese | In addition to meaning "self", "diri" in Sundanese also means "body" or "soul". |
| Swahili | In Swahili, 'binafsi' can also refer to 'in person' or 'privately'. |
| Swedish | The Swedish word "själv" originates from the Old Norse word "sjalfr," which also meant "body". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | Sarili is derived from the Malay word |
| Tajik | The word "худ" is also used to refer to a person's physical appearance or personality. |
| Tamil | சுய ('self') is the shortened form of the Tamil word சுயம்பு ('self-born'), which implies the innate and inherent existence of something without any external cause. |
| Telugu | The word "స్వీయ" can also mean "one's own", "personal", or "private" in Telugu. |
| Thai | The word "ตนเอง" in Thai has two distinct origins, with one stemming from Sanskrit and the other from the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer languages. |
| Turkish | Kendini has an alternate spelling of “kendi” when used as a possessive form in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | The word "себе" can also be translated as "myself". |
| Urdu | In Urdu, the word "خود" ("self") also denotes "oneself", "person", and "identity". In some contexts, it can refer to "ego" or "pride". |
| Uzbek | The word "o'zini o'zi" in Uzbek can also refer to "oneself" or "in person". |
| Vietnamese | The word "bản thân" can also mean "the body" or "the person himself/herself". |
| Welsh | The word "hunan" in Welsh also means "alone" or "by oneself". |
| Xhosa | The word 'isiqu sakho' is also used to describe the innermost part of a person, their essence or spirit. |
| Yiddish | The word "זיך" in Yiddish can also refer to a person's reflection or their own interests. |
| Yoruba | The etymology of the Yoruba word 'funrarẹ' suggests it is a compound word made up of the root word 'fun' meaning possession and the reflexive pronoun 'ara' meaning 'self'. |
| Zulu | "Uqobo" in Zulu also refers to someone who is independent and self-reliant. |
| English | The word 'self' derives from the Old English 'self,' meaning 'oneself,' and can refer to the entirety of an individual, their personality, or their sense of identity. |