unselfish

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ selfish.

Adjective

unselfish (comparative more unselfish, superlative most unselfish)

1. Not selfish.

   Synonyms: selfless, generous, altruistic

   The man was in an unselfish mood that day, so decided to give a £20 note to the next charity he came across.

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 114:

     There was certainly no harm in his travelling sixteen miles twice over on such an errand; but there was an air of foppery and nonsense in it which she could not approve. It did not accord with the rationality of plan, the moderation in expense, or even the unselfish warmth of heart, which she had believed herself to discern in him yesterday.

Synonyms

• altruistic
• generous
• selfless

Antonyms

• selfish

Translations

not selfish; selfless; generous; altruistic

• Bulgarian: безкористен (bg) (bezkoristen)
• Catalan: desinteressat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無私的 / 无私的 (wúsī)

• Czech: nesobecký
• Danish: uselvisk
• Dutch: onbaatzuchtig (nl), onzelfzuchtig (nl)
• Finnish: epäitsekäs (fi)
• French: généreux (fr)
• Georgian: უანგარო (uangaro), ალტრუისტული (alṭruisṭuli), არაეგოისტური (araegoisṭuri)
• German: uneigennützig (de), selbstlos (de)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: önzetlen (hu)
• Italian: altruista (it), altruistico (it)
• Japanese: 利他的 (ritateki); (generous) 献身的 (kenshinteki)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uselvisk (no)

  Nynorsk: usjølvisk

• Polish: bezinteresowny (pl)
• Portuguese: generoso (pt)
• Romanian: dezinteresat (ro)
• Russian: бескоры́стный (ru) (beskorýstnyj)
• Spanish: altruista (es), desprendido (es), generoso (es)
• Swedish: osjälvisk (sv), oegennyttig (sv), altruistisk (sv)
• Turkish: özverili (tr)