different between himself vs perself

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

per (from person) + self (like himself, herself, etc.)

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?r?self
• Rhymes: -?lf
• Hyphenation: per?self

Pronoun

perself

1. (reflexive, rare) Per, themself; gender-neutral object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject, the reflexive form of per.

   Per injured perself.

   • 1996 February 22, "Susan Groppi" (username), "These messages make me so sad...", in alt.adoption, Usenet:

     I can't comment on the original poster's motivations, but I do know that some agencies (mine, for instance) will not release any information until the adoptee is 18, and then the adoptee perself has to request the information.

   • 1996 December 6, "Suki L. McDonough" (username), "What's Up?", in soc.women.lesbian-and-bi, Usenet:

     My hit on the comment was that she was saying that a person on a newsgroup could choose *not* to publicly identify as a member of a visually identifiable minority which is subject to oppression, and therefore spend some time not having to have such oppression directed at perself as an individual (although obviously such a person would still be subject to "ist" postings which aim at the oppressed group in general).

   • 1997 April 22, "Anthony and Joy Hilbert" (username), "ASB: Info PDQ please re local group rules", in alt.sex.bondage, Usenet:

     The person who called perself a dom, but then breached a safeword or did something similarly non-consensual.

Synonyms

• themself

Hyponyms

• himself, herself

See also

• other attested gender-neutral pronouns