| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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8. Word Formation: Plurals, Possessives, Affixes, and Compounds
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| § 46. self- |
| The prefix self- goes back to the Old English word self, meaning virtually the same thing it does today. In Old English there were about a dozen compounds with self- of which only one has remained common: self-will. In Modern English, however, the number of new compounds with self- has increased. Self- usually forms compounds with adjectives, as in self-conscious, self-employed, and self-governing, and nouns, as in self-confidence, self-improvement, and self-satisfaction, and indicates something about oneself. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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