English

Noun

nonself ‎(countable and uncountable, plural nonselfs or nonselves)

1. (philosophy, psychology) Any entity other than oneself.
   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

2. (immunology, uncountable) All agents and substances that are not body's own.
   • 1961, George F. Vande Woude, George Klein, Advances in Cancer Research:

     In his classic monograph describing the clonal selection theory of the immune response, Burnet (1959) suggested that the immune system distinguishes between self (no antibody response) and nonself (antibody response).