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)(file)

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)
  • alter-egotism

Translations

See also

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

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

Portuguese

Pronunciation
 
  • (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

Spanish

Alternative forms

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
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