selfsame
/ˈsɛlfˌseɪm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.91 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "For both of you are Birds of ſelfe-ſame Feather."
- "In my ſchoole dayes, vvhen I had loſt one ſhaft [i.e., arrow], / I ſhot his fellovv of the ſelfe-ſame flight / The ſelfe-ſame vvay, vvith more aduiſed vvatch / To finde the other foorth, and by aduentring both, / I oft found both. I vrge this child-hoode proofe, / Becauſe vvhat follovves, is pure innocence."
- "He and his Horse, were of a piece. / One Spirit did inform them both, / The self-same Vigor, Fury, Wroth: […]"
- "He trod the very ſelf-ſame ground you tread, / And victory refuted all he ſaid."
- "Mine be the strength of spirit fierce and free, / Like some broad river rushing down alone, / With the selfsame impulse wherewith he was thrown / From his loud fount upon the echoing lea:— […]"
- "And Quack and Dupe, as we must ever keep in mind, are upper-side and under of the self-same substance; convertible personages: turn up your dupe into the proper fostering element, and he himself can become a quack; […]"
Etymology
PIE word *swé From Middle English self sam, self same, selve same (“the very same, selfsame”) [and other forms], from self (“that specific (person mentioned), herself, himself, itself, themselves”, pronoun) (from Old English self, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”)) + sam, same (“(adjective) equal, identical; unchanging; referred to earlier, abovenamed, aforementioned; (adverb) again, repeatedly”) (from Old Norse samr (“same; agreeing, of one mind”), ultimately probably from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”)). The English word is analysable as self + same. Cognates * Danish selvsamme (“identical, selfsame”) * Old High German selbsama (“identical, selfsame”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɛlfˌseɪm/
- British English: /ˈsɛlfseɪm/