English Online Dictionary. What means yourself? What does yourself mean?
English
Alternative forms
- yerself, yo'self, yoself (all nonstandard)
- Yourself (honorific)
Etymology
From Middle English yourself, equivalent to your + -self.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, strong) IPA(key): /jɔːˈsɛlf/, /jʊəˈsɛlf/
- (Received Pronunciation, weak) IPA(key): /jəˈsɛlf/
- (General American, strong) IPA(key): /jɔɹˈsɛlf/, /jʊɹˈsɛlf/
- (General American, weak) IPA(key): /jɚˈsɛlf/
- Hyphenation: your‧self
- Rhymes: -ɛlf
Pronoun
yourself (referring to the person being spoken to, previously mentioned, the reflexive case of you)
- (reflexive pronoun) Your own self (singular).
- (emphatic pronoun) You (singular); used emphatically, especially to indicate exclusiveness of the referent's participation in the predicate, i.e., that no one else is involved.
- (especially Ireland; proscribed) You (singular); even when "you" has not been used previously; see usage notes.
Usage notes
Use of "yourself" as in "I spoke with yourself last in February." is an untriggered reflexive (i.e. "yourself" is used to mean "you" without the pronoun "you" being used previously in the sentence), which is proscribed.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
Middle English
Alternative forms
- youreself, yourselff
Etymology
your + self
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈjuːrsɛlf/
Pronoun
yourself
- Emphatic plural 2nd person pron.
Descendants
- English: yourself
- Yola: yerzel
References
- “yǒur-self, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.