self-cleaning

adjective

Cleaning itself or requiring minimal cleaning effort.

“After cooking the thanksgiving turkey we appreciate the self-cleaning oven as it gets really hot and burns off the splattered grease.”

OriginEnglish cleaning ← Middle English self- ← Old English self- →
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Meanings

adjectiveself-cleaning (not comparable)
  1. not comparableCleaning itself or requiring minimal cleaning effort.

    After cooking the thanksgiving turkey we appreciate the self-cleaning oven as it gets really hot and burns off the splattered grease.

    2 more examples

    The letters "SC" inscribed on the smokebox door of a locomotive denote that it is fitted with a self-cleaning smokebox.

    1951 January, “The Why and the Wherefore: Locomotive Markings”, in Railway Magazine, page 73

    A further disadvantage of the Crosti system is that it is impossible to fit a self-cleaning smokebox.

    1959 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The British Railways Class "9" 2-10-0s”, in Trains Illustrated, page 422

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englishcleaning
  9. Englishself-cleaning

From self- + cleaning.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian самопочистващ се
  • самопочистващ се (samopočistvašt se)that cleans itself
French autolavable
  • autolavablethat cleans itself
Greek αυτοκαθαριζόμενος
  • αυτοκαθαριζόμενος (aftokatharizómenos)that cleans itself
Polish samoczyszczący
  • samoczyszczącythat cleans itself
Cite this entry
APA

self-cleaning. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-cleaning

MLA

“self-cleaning.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-cleaning. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-cleaning,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-cleaning.

Source: self-cleaning on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.