selfie

American  

[sel-fee] / ˈsɛl fi /

noun

Informal.

• selfies
  plural

1. a photograph taken with a smartphone or other digital camera by a person who is also in the photograph, especially for posting on a social media website.

   celebrities sharing selfies on Twitter.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• selfies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of selfie

First recorded in 2000–05; self + -ie

Explanation

If you flip your cellphone around to take a photo of yourself, you'll end up with a selfie. When you visit Paris, don't forget to take a selfie at night with the Eiffel Tower in the background! Selfie is a true 21st-century word, coined around 2002 in Australia. This type of slang word formation — known as a hypocorism, or nickname — is incredibly popular in that country, where a mosquito is a mozzie and a present is a prezzie. By 2013, using cellphones to snap casual self-portraits was so common that the Oxford English Dictionary named selfie its word of the year.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

selfie selfies

The selfie camera got bumped up to 18 megapixels and the rear telephoto camera increased to 48 megapixels, with 8X zoom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Into this racket walked an influencer type armed with a selfie stick.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Reporting on their "emotional reunion", Reuters said "tears, hugs and laughter punctuated their meeting... followed by their first selfie together".

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Gen Z loves nothing more than a good selfie, and the iPhone Duo has some game-changing features on that front.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

We put our heads close together as I take a selfie.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

For students at UC Riverside, the start of fall semester means picking up their class syllabus, catching up with friends and snapping selfies with the adorable wild donkeys that roam around the school.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

England scrum-half Natasha Hunt says it is no longer possible to satisfy fans' post-match requests for selfies and autographs, given the Red Roses' success and growth over the past decade.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

They were surfing a perfectly re-created Y2K-era internet, and navigating an early version of Apple’s Photo Booth to snap selfies with a first-generation iSight webcam.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

From the vendor selling paletas in the plaza to guests at a five-star hotel, she is instantly recognized and surrounded by people seeking selfies and hugs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

A boy with zigzags cut into his hair helps him and poses for selfies.

From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas