Meanings
- uncountableThe instinctive behavior that protects oneself from harm.
I'm here to tell you want to do. And if self-preservation is an instinct you possess, you better fuckin' do it and do it quick.
1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel)2 more examples
I'm gonna love me, for the rest of my days / Encourage the babies every time they say / Self-preservation is what's really going on today
1976, Candi Staton, “Young Hearts Run Free”, in Young Hearts Run FreeYet had the whole train and all its bombs gone, had the engine crew merely jumped from the train and run as simple self-preservation would have suggested, or unhitched just the engine to make their escape faster, the whole town would have gone and most of the people with it, leaving just a smoking wasteland. Hundreds would have died.
2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Old Englishself-
- Middle Englishself-
- Englishself-
- Englishpreservation
- Englishself-preservation
From self- + preservation.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian самосъхранение
- самосъхранение (samosăhranenie)self-preservation
Chinese Mandarin 自我保護 /自我保护, 自保
- 自我保護 /自我保护 (zìwǒ bǎohù)self-preservation
- 自保 (zìbǎo)self-preservation
Czech sebezáchova
- sebezáchovaself-preservation
Danish selvopholdelse, selvopholdelsesdrift
- selvopholdelseself-preservation
- selvopholdelsesdriftself-preservation
Dutch zelfbehoud
- zelfbehoudself-preservation
Finnish itsesuojelu
- itsesuojeluself-preservation
French autoconservation
- autoconservationself-preservation
German Selbsterhaltung, Selbsterhaltungstrieb
- Selbsterhaltungself-preservation
- Selbsterhaltungstriebself-preservation
Greek αυτοσυντήρηση
- αυτοσυντήρηση (aftosyntírisi)self-preservation
Hungarian önfenntartás
- önfenntartásself-preservation
Irish féinchaomhnú
- féinchaomhnúself-preservation
Italian autoconservazione
- autoconservazioneself-preservation
Japanese 自己保存
- 自己保存 (jiko-hozon)self-preservation
Lithuanian savisauga
- savisaugaself-preservation
Polish instynkt samozachowawczy
- instynkt samozachowawczyself-preservation
Russian самосохране́ние
- самосохране́ние (samosoxranénije)self-preservation
Swedish självbevarelse, självbevarelsedrift
- självbevarelseself-preservation
- självbevarelsedriftself-preservation
Ukrainian самозбере́ження
- самозбере́ження (samozberéžennja)self-preservation
Cite this entry
self-preservation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-preservation
“self-preservation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-preservation. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-preservation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-preservation.
Source: self-preservation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.