alter ego

alter ego

See also: alter-ego, Alter Ego, and álter ego

English

Etymology

From Latin alter ego (literally “other self”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

alter ego (plural alter egos)

1. Somebody's alternate personality or persona; another self.
   • 1938, Berkov, Robert, “China's Chiang”, in Strong Man of China: The Story of Chiang Kai-shek‎, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 1:

     As one commentator has remarked, all the confusing old three-syllable names that used to index Chinese politics can now be forgotten — the names and their bearers have ceased to be of the slightest importance. In their place stands one man — a small, frail, volatile but tremendously energetic man — who oddly enough has become the alter ego of that powerful, sprawling, sleepy giant that is China.

   • 2012 May 1, Ben Child, “Mark Ruffalo gets green light to play Hulk in six-movie deal”, in the Guardian‎:

     Ruffalo's turn as Bruce Banner and his angry green alter-ego has been widely praised. Avengers Assemble (titled The Avengers outside the UK) is on course to be one of the year's biggest films and has received strong reviews.

2. A very close and intimate friend.
3. (law) A corporation used by a person to conduct personal business in an attempt to shield himself or herself from personal liability, and which a court may penetrate by "piercing the corporate veil" to impose liability on the person when they commit fraud or injustice.

Synonyms

• alter idem

Derived terms

• alter (“one identity of a person with dissociative identity disorder”, noun)

Related terms

• alter-egotism

Translations

alternate personality or persona

Chinese: Mandarin: 另一個我／另一个我 (lìngyīgè wǒ), 分身 (zh) (fenshen) Finnish: alter ego (fi), toinen minä French: alter ego (fr) m, un autre moi-même m German: Alter Ego (de) n, anderes Ich n Icelandic: annað sjálf n Japanese: アルター・エゴ (arutā-ego), 分身 (ja) (ぶんしん, bunshin) Korean: 분신 (ko) (bunsin), 다른 자아 (dareun jaa) Latin: alter ego m Norwegian: alter ego n Polish: alter ego (pl), drugie ja Portuguese: alter ego (pt), outro eu (pt) Russian: а́льтер э́го (ru) n (álʹtɛr égo), друго́е я n (drugóje ja) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: алтер его, друго ја n Roman: alter ego (sh), drugo ja n Spanish: alter ego (es) m, otro yo m Swedish: alter ego (sv) n Tagalog: haliako

very close and intimate friend

Finnish: sydänystävä (fi)

See also

• double life

References

1. The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations by Jon R. Stone
2. “alter ego”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

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Finnish

Noun

alter ego

1. alter ego (somebody's alternate personality or persona)

Declension

Inflection of alter ego (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative		alter ego	alter egot
genitive		alter egon	alter egojen
partitive		alter egoa	alter egoja
illative		alter egoon	alter egoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		alter ego	alter egot
accusative	nom.	alter ego	alter egot
	gen.	alter egon
genitive		alter egon	alter egojen
partitive		alter egoa	alter egoja
inessive		alter egossa	alter egoissa
elative		alter egosta	alter egoista
illative		alter egoon	alter egoihin
adessive		alter egolla	alter egoilla
ablative		alter egolta	alter egoilta
allative		alter egolle	alter egoille
essive		alter egona	alter egoina
translative		alter egoksi	alter egoiksi
instructive		—	alter egoin
abessive		alter egotta	alter egoitta
comitative		—	alter egoineen

Possessive forms of alter ego (type valo)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	alter egoni	alter egomme
2nd person	alter egosi	alter egonne
3rd person	alter egonsa

Synonyms

• toinen minä

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈaw.teɾ ˈɛ.ɡu/ [ˈaʊ̯.teɾ ˈɛ.ɡu]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈaw.teɾ ˈɛ.ɡu/ [ˈaʊ̯.teɾ ˈɛ.ɡu]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈaw.teɾ ˈɛ.ɡo/ [ˈaʊ̯.teɾ ˈɛ.ɡo]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈal.tɛɾ ˈɛ.ɡu/ [ˈaɫ.tɛɾ ˈɛ.ɣu]

Noun

alter ego m (plural alter egos)

1. alter ego (alternate personality or persona)

   Synonym: outro eu

Related terms

• outro

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• álter ego

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alter ego (“other self”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˌteɾ ˈeɡo/ [al̪ˌt̪eɾ ˈe.ɣ̞o]
• Syllabification: al‧ter e‧go

Noun

alter ego m (plural alter egos)

1. alter ego (alternate personality or persona)

   Synonym: otro yo

Further reading

• “alter ego”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014