Meanings
plural shelfies
- slangsocial mediaA photograph of a bookshelf/bookcase taken by its owner and shared on social media.
She's certainly observed the rate at which people are posting shelfies on Instagram.
2014 April 25, Dale Hrabi, “The Rise of the 'Shelfie': Instagram's Next Craze”, in The Wall Street Journal3 more examples
Besides a feline closeup she’s placed on one shelf, and an opera mask on another, her shelfie shows a wonderful collection of books about music, including “The Rough Guide to Opera,” several biographies of Mozart and the history “Women Making Music.”
2013 December 18, Hector Tobar, “Hey everybody, let's 'shelfie!'”, in Los Angeles TimesSome practitioners have tried to position the shelfie as "the intellectual's selfie," making it seem like some digital form of 17th-century Dutch still-life painting.
2014 May 31, “Sharing your shelfie”, in Winnipeg Free PressFrom social media “shelfies” to Zoom backgrounds, to hyperinflated coffee-table tomes, books are everywhere nowadays, even—perhaps even especially—in the homes of people who never really read.
2024 February 9, Edwin Heathcote, “‘Bookshelf wealth’ is the oldest decorating trick in the book”, in Financial Times
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)kelH-
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)kel(H)-p-
- Proto-Germanic*skelfō
- Proto-West Germanic*skelfu:
- Proto-West Germanic*skilfijā
- Old Englishsċylfe?
- Middle Englishschelfe
- Englishshelf
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Middle Englishself
- Englishself
- Englishselfiebf.
- Englishshelfie
From shelf + -ie (back-formation of "selfie").
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shelfie
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
shelfie. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shelfie
“shelfie.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shelfie. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shelfie,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shelfie.
Source: shelfie on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.