Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
adj
Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same; the very same; the same not only in being similar but in being identical.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: identical, indifferent, nondifferent, one and the same, self, selfsame, undifferent, undifferentiated
Antonyms: other, different, differing, dissimilar, diverse, unalike, unlike
noun
Chiefly preceded by the: precisely the same person or thing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
PIE word *swé From Middle English self sam, self same, selve same (“the very same, selfsame”) [and other forms], from self (“that specific (person mentioned), herself, himself, itself, themselves”, pronoun) (from Old English self, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”)) + sam, same (“(adjective) equal, identical; unchanging; referred to earlier, abovenamed, aforementioned; (adverb) again, repeatedly”) (from Old Norse samr (“same; agreeing, of one mind”), ultimately probably from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”)). The English word is analysable as self + same. Cognates * Danish selvsamme (“identical, selfsame”) * Old High German selbsama (“identical, selfsame”)
Across languages
23 source translations are retained for this English entry.
