'self-criticism' originates from the combination of 'self' and 'criticism', where 'self' refers to one's own person and 'criticism' comes from the Greek word 'kritikos', meaning 'able to discern'.

'criticism' evolved from the Greek word 'kritikos', which was adopted into Latin as 'criticus', and eventually became the modern English word 'criticism'.

Initially, 'criticism' meant 'the act of judging', but over time it evolved to include the notion of finding faults.