What is "reflexive pronoun"

n. 1 In English: A personal pronoun, having a form of "self" as a suffix to show that the subject's action affects the subject itself. 2 In many languages: a pronoun that makes a transitive verb reflexive or reciprocal.

n. a personal pronoun compounded with -self to show the agent's action affects the agent [syn: reflexive]

In language, a reflexive pronoun, sometimes simply called a reflexive, is a pronoun that is preceded or followed by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers (its antecedent) within the same clause.

In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ‑self or ‑selves, and refer to a previously named noun or pronoun (myself, yourself, ourselves, etc.). Intensive pronouns, used for emphasis, take the same form.

In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent (see binding). In a general sense, it is a noun phrase that obligatorily gets its meaning from another noun phrase in the sentence. Different languages have different binding domains for reflexive pronouns, according to their structure.