Selfie
A selfie (/ˈsɛlfi/)[1] is a self-portrait photograph or a short video,[2] typically taken with an electronic camera or smartphone. The camera would be usually held at arm's length or supported by a selfie stick instead of being controlled with a self-timer or remote. The concept of shooting oneself while viewing their own image in the camera's LCD monitor is also known as self-recording.[3]
This article is about self-photographs. For other uses, see Selfie (disambiguation).
Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and Snapchat. Video selfies longer than several minutes are more likely to fall into vlog category.
A selfie may include multiple subjects; as long as the photo is being taken by one of the subjects featured, it is considered a selfie. However, some other terms for selfies with multiple people include usie, groufie, and wefie. Alternatively, one can take a mirror selfie, with the camera pointed at a mirror instead of directly at one's face, often to get a full-body shot.[4]
Etymology
"Selfie" is an example of hypocorism – a type of word formation that is popular in Australia[5] where it was in general use before gaining wider acceptance.[6]
The first known use of the word selfie in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on 13 September 2002 – Karl Kruszelnicki's 'Dr Karl Self-Serve Science Forum' – in a post by Nathan Hope.[7][8] Although Hope later dismissed the notion that he coined the term, describing it as "something that was just common slang at the time, used to describe a picture of yourself", he wrote the following: "Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie."
By 2013, the word "selfie" had become commonplace enough to be monitored for inclusion in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary, which announced it as the "word of the year" in November and gave it an Australian origin.[9][10][11]
In August 2014, "selfie" was officially accepted for use in the word game Scrabble.[12][13]
