Neopronouns, orxenopronouns,[1][2] areneologisticthird-personpersonal pronouns beyond those that already exist in a language. InEnglish, neopronouns replace the existing pronouns "he", "she", and "they".[3] Neopronouns are preferred by somenon-binary individuals who feel that they provide options to reflect theirgender identity more accurately than conventional pronouns.[4][5]
Neopronouns may be words created to serve as pronouns, such as "ze/hir", or derived from existing words and turned into personal pronouns, such as "fae/faer".[6] Some neopronouns allude to they/them, such as "ey/em", a form ofSpivak pronoun.[7]
An online survey byThe Trevor Project in 2020 found that 4% of the surveyedLGBTQ youth aged 13–24 used neopronouns.[8]
Singular they had emerged by the 14th century as a third-person pronoun, about a century after the pluralthey,[9] and is firstattested in the 14th-century poemWilliam and the Werewolf.[10] Neopronouns were not coined until the 18th century.[3]
One of the first instances of a neopronoun being used was in 1789, when William H. Marshall recorded the use of "ou" as a pronoun.[11]
"Thon" was originally aScots version of "yon" and means "that" or "that one".[12][13] In 1858, it was introduced as a gender-neutral pronoun by the American composer Charles Crosby Converse.[3][14][15] It was added to theMerriam-Webster Dictionary in 1934 and removed from it in 1961.
"Ze" as a gender-neutral English pronoun dates back to at least 1864.[3][16]
In 1911, an insurance broker named Fred Pond invented the pronoun set "he'er, his'er and him'er", which the superintendent of theChicago public-school system proposed for adoption by the school system in 1912, sparking a national debate in the US,[17] with "heer" being added to theFunk & Wagnalls dictionary in 1913.[18]
TheSacramento Bee used the gender-neutral "hir" for 25 years from the 1920s to the 1940s.[17][19]
In 1970, Mary Orovan invented the pronoun "co/coself", which gained use in acooperative community in Virginia called theTwin Oaks Community, where it was still in use as of 2011[update].[17]
In 1996,Kate Bornstein used the pronouns "ze/hir" to refer to a character in their novelNearly Roadkill.[17] In a 2006 interview,transgender activistLeslie Feinberg included "ze/hir" as apreferred pronoun (along with "she/her" and "he/him", depending on context), stating, "I like the gender neutral pronoun 'ze/hir' because it makes it impossible to hold on to gender/sex/sexuality assumptions about a person you're about to meet or you've just met."[20] TheOxford English Dictionary added an entry for "ze" in 2018[3][21] and entries for "hir" and "zir" in 2019.[3][22]
The term "neopronoun" emerged in the 2010s.[3]
Noun-self pronouns are a type of neopronoun that involve a word being used as a personal pronoun.[23] Examples of noun-self pronouns include "vamp/vampself", "kitten/kittenself", and "doll/dollself".[6] Noun-self pronouns trace their origins to the early 2010s on the websiteTumblr.[24]
There has been some conflict over neopronouns, with opposition to the idea in both thetransgender community and amongcisgender people. Many people find them unfamiliar and confusing to use.[3][6] Some have said that use of neopronouns, especially noun-self pronouns, comes from a position of privilege, makes the LGBTQ community look like a joke, or that the attention placed on neopronouns pulls focus away from larger, more important issues, such astransphobic bullying, the murder of trans people, andsuicide.[6][25] Noun-self pronouns have been viewed by some as unhelpful and unnecessary.[26]
People who are supportive of neopronouns state that they are helpful forgenderqueer individuals to find "something that was made for them",[27] and forneurodivergent people who may struggle with theirgender identity.[6] Some magazines and newspapers have published articles on neopronouns that are generally in support of them, detailing how to use them and be supportive of those who do.[7][23]
May also be referred to as xenopronouns.
using neo- or xenopronouns (i.e. zir, xi)