Skip to main content
self-employed person

self-employed person

2 3.6
A person who works for themselves and has no employer
  • noun
  • /sɛlf ɪmˈplɔɪd ˈpɜrsən/
translation icon : trabajador autónomo
  • Being a self-employed person often means juggling multiple projects from different clients at once.

Whereas an employee, you have a job as a self-employed person, you just simply own your job.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Except both the self-employed person and the professional have one tiny problem.

  • It's great to have a DIY attitude, but there's a world of difference between doing your taxes as an employee and doing your taxes as a self-employed person.

    Blog text (13)
  • But most self-employed people work really long and really hard in order to get to that point.

  • It's interesting how you mentioned that once you became self-employed, more self-employed people turned up around you.

    Blog text (29)
  • I'm proud of what we've done so far, but I know that many self-employed people are deeply anxious about the support available for them.

  • As a small business owner or self-employed person, one of the easiest ways to keep Uncle Sam off your back and out of your life is to file your forms, payments, and other paperwork on time.

    Blog text (31)
  • Self-employed persons are both economically self-reliant and independent of government, and they are also economically vulnerable in an unstable economy.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The UNLU members appear to be relatively youthful and educated, drawn widely from lower and middle social strata, with a significant number of professionals and self-employed persons.

    Academic text (1993)
  • As a self-employed person, she has the freedom to choose her clients and set her own hours.

  • Many self-employed people struggle to find health insurance due to their independent status.

Synonyms

contractor
vsself-employed person
354 3.9

A person or company hired to do work for others under an agreement

focuses on working for oneself rather than being hired under a formal contract
proprietor
vsself-employed person
39 4.8

A person who owns a business or building

is about working independently for clients rather than owning a business
freelancer
vsself-employed person
38 3.9

A person who works for different clients and gets paid per job

is the broader general term for people who work for themselves
independent
vsself-employed person
23 4.2

A writer or artist who works for different employers without a long contract

is the broader label for any person working for themselves across fields
freelance
vsself-employed person
14 3.8

A person who works for different clients, not in a permanent job

is the general term for working for oneself often without long contracts
free-lance
vsself-employed person
3.7

A person who sells their work to different companies or people without a long contract

is the modern form without a hyphen used for the same idea

Antonyms

1.3

A person hired by a company or another person to do paid work

How Independent

entrepreneur
305 6.9
self-employed person
2 3.6
contractor
354 3.9
employee
1.3

Surface Forms

Morphology

self-employed + person

The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'self-employed' means operating one's own business and combined with 'person' yields 'a person who works for themselves.' This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Self-employed person comes from putting together self (you alone) and employed (doing work), giving a clear image of someone who is their own boss. That's why it means 'a person who works for themselves'.