Contents
- 1 English
- 1.1 Alternative forms
- 1.2 Etymology
- 1.3 Pronunciation
- 1.4 Adjective
- 1.4.1 Usage notes
- 1.4.2 Synonyms
- 1.4.3 Antonyms
- 1.4.4 Derived terms
- 1.4.5 Translations
- 1.4.6 See also
- 1.5 Anagrams
English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]
From self + -ish. Compare Danish selvisk (“selfish”), Swedish självisk (“selfish”).
Pronunciation
[edit]
Adjective
[edit]
selfish (comparative more selfish or (proscribed) selfisher, superlative most selfish or (proscribed) selfishest)
- (clarification of this definition is needed)(The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) Holding one's own self-interest as the standard for decision making.
1997, John Peniel, chapter 10, in The Children Of The Law Of One & The Lost Teachings Of Atlantis, page 127:
See Alsoreputation - Wiktionary, the free dictionaryverbose - Wiktionary, the free dictionaryOpinion | ‘Woman’: the story of the word’s origin and evolutionsufficient - Wiktionary, the free dictionary“We all have both a selfish separate self, and an Inner Being that is One with the Universal Spirit. In this sense, every human has a sort of ‘split personality’. We are all kind of what you call ‘schitzy’ with these two sides, these two people living within us. And they are in total opposition. The free will dictates which of these two sides will have its way in our life, at every given moment.”
- Having regard for one's own well-being above that of others.
1823, James Hogg, “Peril First. Love. Circle Third.”, in The Three Perils of Woman; or, Love, Leasing, and Jealousy.[…], volume I, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,[…], →OCLC, page 277:
Take warning by my fate, and shun that flowery and bewitching path; for in its labyrinths the good, the gentle, the kind-hearted, and the benevolent, are too often lost; while the sordid and the selfish scarcely so much as run a hazard.
1921, Ben Travers, chapter V, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
- (video games) Of video game characters: relying on their own actions and capabilities to be effective in the game, rather than on other characters.
- (biology) Related to or equivalent to a selfish gene; best understood as existing to preserve and replicate itself in competition with other entities at the same level of existence, rather than at the level of the individual or population containing it.
2005, N.S. Sharma, Molecular Structure Of Genes And Chromosomes, Mittal Publications, →ISBN, page 215:
Discoveries of selfish genetic elements often follow from the emergence of a selfish phenotype either in a cross between members of closely related species, or in crosses involving individuals from different isolated populations within a species.
2005 August 4, Robert Desharnais, Population Dynamics and Laboratory Ecology, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 321:
Through this hypothesized mechanism, a selfish virus would reduce the probability that other co-infecting genotypes contribute the expected share of their genes to the progeny.
2011 February 15, Richard Brodie, Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, Hay House, Inc, →ISBN, page 68:
The "selfish meme" concept does not, of course, ascribe any consciousness or motivation to the meme; it simply means we can understand better by looking at evolution from the meme's point of view.
Usage notes
[edit]
- Said of people and their thoughts and actions, such as motives, desires, acts.
Synonyms
[edit]
Antonyms
[edit]
Derived terms
[edit]
Translations
[edit]
holding one's self-interest as the standard for decision making
- Azerbaijani: xudbin
- Belarusian: эгаісты́чны (ehaistýčny)
- Bengali: স্বার্থপর(bn) (śarthopor)
- Bulgarian: егоистичен(bg) (egoističen), себичен(bg) (sebičen)
- Catalan: egoista(ca)
- Chinese:
- Czech: sobecký(cs)
- Danish: selvisk, egoistisk
- Esperanto: egoisma, memama
- Finnish: itsekäs(fi), itsekeskeinen(fi)
- French: égoïste(fr)
- Galician: egoísta(gl)
- German: egoistisch(de), selbstsüchtig(de), egozentrisch(de)
- Gothic: 𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍃 (seinagairns)
- Greek: εγωιστής(el) (egoïstís)
- Hindi: स्वार्थी(hi) (svārthī), मतलबी(hi) (matalbī)
- Hungarian: önző(hu)
- Indonesian: egoistis(id)
- Irish: leithleach, cóngarach duit féin, féineach (Ulster)
- Italian: egoista(it)
- Japanese: 自分本位の (jibunhon'i no), 勝手な(ja) (katte na), 身勝手な(ja) (migatte na), 自分勝手な(ja) (jibunkatte na)
- Kabuverdianu: langon
- Korean: 이기적(利己的)이다 (igijeog-ida), 자기 본위(自己本位)의 (jagi bonwi-ui), 제멋대로 하다 (jemeotdaero hada)
- Kyrgyz: өзүмчүл(ky) (özümcül)
- Lithuanian: savanaudis
- Malayalam: സ്വാർത്ഥ (svāṟttha)
- Maori: kaiapo, tūmatarau
- Norman: offrun
- Norwegian:
- Polish: egoistyczny(pl), samolubny(pl)
- Portuguese: egoísta(pt)
- Romanian: egoist(ro)
- Russian: эгоисти́чный(ru) (egoistíčnyj)
- Sanskrit: स्वार्थिन्(sa) (svārthin)
- Scottish Gaelic: fèineil
- Serbo-Croatian: sebičan(sh)
- Slovak: sebecký
- Spanish: egoísta(es)
- Swedish: självisk(sv), självcentrerad
- Turkish: bencil(tr), egoist(tr), hodbin(tr), (archaic), hodkâm, (archaic)
- Ukrainian: егоїсти́чний (ehojistýčnyj), кори́сливий (korýslyvyj)
- Urdu: خود غرض (xud ġarz)
- Zazaki: pexil, pekhil
having regard for one's own well-being above that of others
- Arabic: أَنَانِيّ (ʔanāniyy)
- Azerbaijani: xudbin
- Bengali: স্বার্থপর(bn) (śarthopor)
- Bulgarian: егоистичен(bg) (egoističen)
- Catalan: egoista(ca)
- Czech: sobecký(cs)
- Danish: selvisk, egoistisk
- Dutch: egoïstisch(nl), zelfzuchtig(nl)
- Esperanto: egoisma, memama
- Finnish: itsekäs(fi), itsekeskeinen(fi)
- French: égoïste(fr)
- Greek: εγωιστικός(el) (egoïstikós)
- Hungarian: egoista(hu)
- Icelandic: sjálfhverfur
- Indonesian: egoistis(id)
- Irish: leithleach
- Italian: egoista(it)
- Japanese: わがままな(ja) (wagamama na), 我が儘な(ja) (wagamama na), 利己的な (rikoteki na)
- Korean: 자애적(自愛的)이다 (jaaejeog-ida)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: خۆ پەرِست (xo perist)
- Lithuanian: savanaudis
- Norman: offrun
- Norwegian:
- Polish: samolubny(pl)
- Portuguese: egoísta(pt)
- Romanian: egoist(ro)
- Russian: эгоисти́чный(ru) (egoistíčnyj)
- Sanskrit: स्वार्थिन्(sa) (svārthin)
- Scottish Gaelic: fèineil
- Slovak: sebecký
- Spanish: egoísta(es)
- Swedish: egoistisk(sv), självisk(sv)
- Turkish: bencil(tr), egoist(tr), hodbin(tr), hodkâm
- Vietnamese: ích kỷ(vi)
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout §Translations.
Translations to be checked
- Dutch: (please verify) zelfzuchtig(nl), (please verify) egoïstisch(nl)
- German: (please verify) selbstsüchtig(de), (please verify) egoistisch(de)
- Italian: (please verify) egoistico(it)
See also
[edit]
Anagrams
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=selfish&oldid=80631600"