selfhood

American  

[self-hood] / ˈsɛlf hʊd /

noun

1. the state of being an individual person; individuality.

2. one's personality.

3. selfishness.

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selfhood British  

/ ˈsɛlfhʊd /

noun

1. philosophy

   1. the state of having a distinct identity

   2. the individuality so possessed

2. a person's character

3. the quality of being egocentric

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Etymology

Origin of selfhood

First recorded in 1640–50; self + -hood

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

selfhood

Huntsinger hopes audiences won’t overlook Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” an uncanny body-swapping drama starring Léa Seydoux that uses its genre premise to explore questions of identity and selfhood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

The neuroscientist Anil Seth says the brain is a “prediction machine,” and selfhood a useful hallucination.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

In the face of so much frenzied curation and compulsory personal branding, how might a modern human maintain some iota of unshared selfhood, a soupçon of Greta Garbo mystique?

From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2024

And if she did slip in that fraught moment, the whole edifice of her selfhood, her life’s grand project, might well collapse.

From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2024

We catch this young girl at the dawn of her selfhood.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

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