Meanings
- uncountableThe condition of being self-sufficient.
1 more example
“For my own part,” she rejoined, “I must confess that I never could see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose wants character; there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are tolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which have sometimes been called so fine, I never could perceive any thing extraordinary. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do not like at all; and in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable.”
1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 60–61
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Old Englishself-
- Middle Englishself-
- Englishself-
- Englishsufficiency
- Englishself-sufficiency
From self- + sufficiency.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek αὐτάρκεια
- αὐτάρκεια (autárkeia)condition of being self-sufficient
Bulgarian самодоста́тъчност, самостоя́телност
- самодоста́тъчност (samodostátăčnost)condition of being self-sufficient
- самостоя́телност (samostojátelnost)condition of being self-sufficient
Catalan autosuficiència
- autosuficiènciacondition of being self-sufficient
Chinese Mandarin 自給自足 /自给自足
- 自給自足 /自给自足 (zìjǐzìzú)condition of being self-sufficient
Czech soběstačnost
- soběstačnostcondition of being self-sufficient
Danish selvforsyning
- selvforsyningcondition of being self-sufficient
Dutch zelfvoorziening
- zelfvoorzieningcondition of being self-sufficient
Esperanto memsufiĉo
- memsufiĉocondition of being self-sufficient
Finnish omavaraisuus, itseriittoisuus
- omavaraisuuscondition of being self-sufficient
- itseriittoisuuscondition of being self-sufficient
French autosuffisance, autonomie
- autosuffisancecondition of being self-sufficient
- autonomiecondition of being self-sufficient
German Selbstversorgung, Nahrungsmittelselbstversorgung
- Selbstversorgungcondition of being self-sufficient
- Nahrungsmittelselbstversorgungcondition of being self-sufficient
- Nahrungsmittel-Selbstversorgungcondition of being self-sufficient
- Autarkiecondition of being self-sufficient
- Selbstgenügsamkeitcondition of being self-sufficient
- Selbstständigkeitcondition of being self-sufficient
- wirtschaftliche Unabhängigkeitcondition of being self-sufficient
Greek αυτάρκεια
- αυτάρκεια (aftárkeia)condition of being self-sufficient
Hindi आत्मनिर्भरता, स्वावलंब
- आत्मनिर्भरता (ātmanirbhartā)condition of being self-sufficient
- स्वावलंब (svāvlamb)condition of being self-sufficient
Hungarian önellátás
- önellátáscondition of being self-sufficient
Indonesian swa sembada
- swa sembadacondition of being self-sufficient
Irish neamhthuilleamaíocht
- neamhthuilleamaíochtcondition of being self-sufficient
Italian autosufficienza
- autosufficienzacondition of being self-sufficient
Japanese 自給自足
- 自給自足 (jikyūjisoku)condition of being self-sufficient
Korean 자급자족
- 자급자족 (jageupjajok)condition of being self-sufficient
Persian اتکای به نفس
- اتکای به نفس (ettekâ-ye be nafs)condition of being self-sufficient
Polish samowystarczalność
- samowystarczalnośćcondition of being self-sufficient
Portuguese autossuficiência, autonomia
- autossuficiênciacondition of being self-sufficient
- autonomiacondition of being self-sufficient
Russian самодоста́точность, самостоя́тельность
- самодоста́точность (samodostátočnostʹ)condition of being self-sufficient
- самостоя́тельность (samostojátelʹnostʹ)condition of being self-sufficient
- автоно́мность (avtonómnostʹ)condition of being self-sufficient
Scottish Gaelic fèin-fhoghainteachd
- fèin-fhoghainteachdcondition of being self-sufficient
Slovak sebestačnosť
- sebestačnosťcondition of being self-sufficient
Spanish autosuficiencia
- autosuficienciacondition of being self-sufficient
Swedish självförsörjning
- självförsörjningcondition of being self-sufficient
Ukrainian самодоста́тність
- самодоста́тність (samodostátnistʹ)condition of being self-sufficient
Cite this entry
self-sufficiency. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-sufficiency
“self-sufficiency.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-sufficiency. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-sufficiency,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-sufficiency.
Source: self-sufficiency on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.