selfishness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈsɛlfɪʃnəs/ UK /ˈsɛlfɪʃnəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being concerned chiefly with one's own advantage

Her selfishness blinded her to the needs of those around her.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... egoism self-interest greedself-regardegotismself-centeredness

Opposites

selflessness altruism generosity unselfishness

Word family

Related forms selfish self selflessness

Etymology

From 'selfish' (from 'self' + '-ish', mid-17th century) + '-ness'; 'self' is from Old English 'self', from Proto-Germanic *selbaz.

self Old English *selbaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives Register & Style

# selfishness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈsɛlfɪʃnəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈsɛlfɪʃnəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of being concerned chiefly with one's own advantage

## Examples
- Her selfishness blinded her to the needs of those around her.

## Synonyms
- egoism
- self-interest
- greed
- self-regard
- egotism
- self-centeredness

## Antonyms
- selflessness
- altruism
- generosity
- unselfishness

## Related Forms
- selfish
- self
- selflessness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: self
- Root: *selbaz

## Etymology
From 'selfish' (from 'self' + '-ish', mid-17th century) + '-ness'; 'self' is from Old English 'self', from Proto-Germanic *selbaz.

## AI Etymology
Selfishness comes from 'selfish' (from 'self' + '-ish', mid-17th century) + '-ness'; 'self' is from Old English 'self', from Proto-Germanic *selbaz. The historical chain includes Old English self and Proto-Germanic *selbaz. Older glosses in the chain include "selfish", "self", "-ish", and "-ness", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, selfishness is best read as compound and borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "the quality of being concerned chiefly with one's own advantage". related forms include selfish, self, and selflessness. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- Register & Style

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