yourself - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English yourself, equivalent to your +‎ -self.

yourself (referring to the person being spoken to, previously mentioned, the reflexive case of you)

  1. (reflexive pronoun) Your own self (singular).
    Be careful with that fire or you'll burn yourself.
    After a good night's sleep you'll feel like yourself again.
    • 2025 April 28, Madeline Holcombe, “It might be time to ‘reparent’ yourself. Here’s how to get started”, in CNN‎[1]:
      As an adult, you would find yourself being a people pleaser with the men in your life –– afraid to be rejected and emotionally abandoned.
  2. (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.
    You yourself know that what you wrote was wrong.
  3. (especially Ireland; proscribed[1]) You (singular); even when "you" has not been used previously; see usage notes.
    I spoke with yourself last in February.
    No one understands me like yourself.
    My colleague and yourself are invited to the conference.
    I only spoke to my lawyer and yourself about the issue.

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.

(reflexive) your own self

you, used emphatically

Translations to be checked

  1. ^ https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/19/yourself/

your +‎ self

yourself

  1. Emphatic plural 2nd person pron.