Ourselves

How to spell ourselves

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ourselves

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ourselves mean?

1. pronounUsed by a group including the speaker to refer back to that same group as the object of an action, or for emphasis.

Ourselves in a sentence

• We treated ourselves to dinner after closing the deal.

• We built the patio ourselves over the summer.

Where does ourselves come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a compound that English built from its own native stock rather than borrowing it. The first part, 'our', descends from the Old English possessive 'ure', the form of 'we' used to show belonging. The second part, 'selves', is the plural of 'self', which comes from Old English 'self' or 'seolf', meaning one's own person or very being. The two were joined in the late Middle English period to form the emphatic and reflexive pronoun, replacing earlier patterns like 'us self'. The spelling trap lives in the join: writers must remember the silent flow from 'our' into 'selves', where 'self' shifts its 'f' to a 'v' in the plural, exactly as it does in 'lives', 'wolves', and 'leaves'.

How the word is built

• our (possessive of we)
• selves (plural of self)