THEMSELF

Etymology

Pronoun

themself

The reflexive form of they, the third-person singular personal pronoun. The single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).

Usage notes

• The use of themself instead of themselves is sometimes proscribed, but it is relatively common "considering that singular they is unquestionably far less frequent than plural they". Furthermore, the use of themself as a singular and themselves as a plural is in "clear parallel [to] common usage of the second-person forms, where yourselves can be contrasted with yourself", and the same is true in the first person, where ourselves contrasts with ourself.

• For more on the use of they as a singular pronoun, see they.

• For information on the use of he and himself as a generic singular pronoun, see he.

Synonyms

• themselves (more common)

• theirself, theirselves (nonstandard)

• himself, herself (gender-specific)

• thonself (rare)

• other attested and proposed third-person pronouns

Source: Wiktionary



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