self-employed

[self-em-ploid, self-]

adjective

1. earning one's living directly from one's own profession or business, as a freelance writer or artist, rather than as an employee earning salary or commission from another.

self-employed

adjective

1. earning one's living in one's own business or through freelance work, rather than as the employee of another

Other Word Forms

• self-employment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-employed¹

First recorded in 1945–50

When To Use

What does self-employed mean?

Self-employed means earning one's main income by getting paid directly for one’s work, such as by owning one's own business, as opposed to being an employee and getting paid by an employer.When people describe themselves as self-employed, it typically means that this is their primary way of earning income, and that they do it full-time—as opposed to working as an employee and doing freelance work on the side, for example.The term self-employed is often used by and applied to people who consider themselves business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.Self-employed is sometimes used to collectively refer to self-employed people, as in This program is intended to help the self-employed. The state of being self-employed is self-employment.Example: I love being self-employed—my boss is amazing.