self-diagnose

verb

To attempt to identify a medical condition in oneself without consulting a medical practitioner.

Meanings

verbself-diagnose (third-person singular simple present self-diagnoses, present participle self-diagnosing, simple past and past participle self-diagnosed)

present singular third person self-diagnoses · participle present self-diagnosing · participle past self-diagnosed · past self-diagnosed

  1. intransitivetransitiveTo attempt to identify a medical condition in oneself without consulting a medical practitioner.

    Ignorant about vomiting before the incident, I was now terrified of it. I self-diagnosed myself with emetophobia – fear of vomiting.

    2011 July 15, Dakshana Bascaramurty, “I had never vomited. Ever.”, in The Globe and Mail
    1 more example

    Among the issues they are hoping to explore are cyberhoarding—reluctance to delete information gathered online—and cyberchondria—compulsively using search engines and websites in the hope of finding reassurance about medical fears, only to self-diagnose further ailments.

    2018 October 8, Nicola Davis, “Cyberchondria and cyberhoarding: is internet fuelling new conditions?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  2. intransitivetransitiveOf a system, to identify problems within itself.

    70% of all software failures can be self diagnosed and repaired automatically when connected to the company's diagnostic web-site.

    2012, John Priest, Jose Sanchez, Product Development and Design for Manufacturing (page 407)

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. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  9. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  10. Proto-Indo-European*dwís
  11. Ancient Greekδιά (diá)
  12. Ancient Greekδια- (dia-)
  13. Proto-Indo-European*ǵneh₃-
  14. Proto-Indo-European*ǵn̥h₃sḱéti
  15. Proto-Hellenic*gignṓskō
  16. Ancient Greekγῐγνώσκω (gĭgnṓskō)
  17. Ancient Greekδῐαγῐγνώσκω (dĭagĭgnṓskō)
  18. Ancient Greekδῐᾰ́γνωσῐς (dĭắgnōsĭs)
  19. Latindiagnōsis
  20. Englishdiagnosisbf.
  21. Englishdiagnose
  22. Englishself-diagnose

From self- + diagnose.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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