different between himself vs itself

English

Alternative forms

• Himself (honorific)
• himselfe (obsolete)
• himselve (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?m?s?lf/, /??ms?lf/
• Rhymes: -?lf
• Hyphenation: him?self

Pronoun

himself (the third person singular, masculine, personal pronoun, reflexive form of he, Feminine herself, neuter (nonhuman) itself, neuter (human) himself, plural themselves)

1. (reflexive) Him; the male object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject
2. (emphatic) He; used as an intensifier, often to emphasize that the referent is the exclusive participant in the predicate
3. (Ireland, otherwise archaic) The subject or non-reflexive object of a predicate; he himself.
   • Sir John Denham (1614-1669)

     With shame remembers, while himself was one / Of the same herd, himself the same had done.

   • 1998, Kirk Jones, Waking Ned, Tomboy films

     Dennis: His glass is there and himself is in the toilet.

4. (Ireland) 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)

Synonyms

• hisself
• hissen

Translations

See also

Further reading

• himself in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• himself in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Flemish, flemish, mehfils

English

Etymology

From it +? -self.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t?s?lf/
• Rhymes: -?lf

Pronoun

itself (the third person singular, neuter, personal pronoun, the reflexive form of it, masculine himself, feminine herself, plural themselves)

1. (reflexive) it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject

   The door closed by itself

2. (emphatic) it; used to intensify the subject, especially to emphasize that it is the only participant in the predicate

   The door itself is quite heavy.

3. (emphatic, archaic) it; used to refer back to an earlier subject

Synonyms

• itsself (obsolete)

Derived terms

• in-itselfness
• thing-in-itself

Translations

See also

Anagrams

• filets, fistle, fliest, flites, stifle