(rare,nonstandard) Belonging toem,gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, equivalent to the singulartheir and coordinate withhis andher.
1975 August 23, Judie Black, “Ey has a word for it”, inChicago Tribune, section 1, page12:
Eir sentences would sound smoother sinceey wouldn’t clutter them with the old sexist pronouns. And ifey should trip up in the new usage,ey would only haveemself to blame.
1996 December 22, Shirley Worth, “New To Yoga”, inalt.yoga[1] (Usenet), message-ID <32BDCA0C.6C8@worth.org>:
A person whose habit is to stand and walk splay-footed may *think*eir feet are straight ahead, when they are actually pointed only slightly less out.
1997 November 25, Scott Robert Dawson, “Who Pays for Cellular Calls”, inalt.cellular[2] (Usenet), message-ID <347acf56.333719@news.interlog.com>:
If a mobile user is far fromeir home area,ey will pay a long-distance fee for carriage of the call *from*eir home area, just as a caller would pay long-distance on a call *to* that area.
2004 March 31, Sue Thomas,Hello World : travels in virtuality[3], Raw Nerve Books,→ISBN,→OL, page78:
The adult worries much less; is cautious, sensible and knows how to protectemself andeir system from attack and error.
2011 March 15, RJ Edwards, “#89: New Friend”, inRiot Nrrd[4], retrieved6 October 2012:
And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowingeir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgenderem.
“You idiot girl! Are you childsick?” She grabbed Asu’s wrist; Asu made no effort to twist away. “Sand and soil, tell me you’re not pregnant. Is it that—what’seir name? Aeran? Have you lain with em? Tell me!”
[…]
Empre waded out to help them cross the last stretch. More people, a few hundred, perhaps, had gathered along the shore. One of them came running at Melu with a cry—she threw up her arms in defense. But it was Aeran, only Aeran. E seized Asu and clasped her close,eir eyes closed tightly as e sobbedeir relief.
For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:eir.
