What is a synonym for xe?
Xe is a pronoun that serves the same grammatical function as
he or
she, except that it’s gender-neutral.
Xe is typically used by people who identify as
nonbinary or
genderqueer, meaning that their gender identify falls outside of the strict binary of only male or only female. For those who identify in one of these ways and who are deciding which pronouns to use, there are a lot of options. The most commonly used is nonbinary
they. Some pronouns similar to
xe include
xie, ze, zie, zhe, sie, ve, and
ce. However, it should be noted that these shouldn’t be considered synonyms of
xe in the sense that they are interchangeable when referring to the same person—the pronouns the person has specified are the ones that should be used.
Xe is often used as part of the
xe/xem/xyr set of pronouns, but it is sometimes also used as part of other, similar sets, such as
xe/
hir/
hir, xe/
xir/
xir and
xe/
xim/
xis. In the next section, we’ll break down some of the nonbinary pronoun sets that people use.
What can you use instead of the word xe?
First and foremost: if someone says they use
xe as one of their pronouns, that’s what you should use when referring to them. Some people might use a mix of pronouns, such as
xe and
they, in which case you can use either one, or both at different times. There are a lot of different nonbinary pronouns, and it can seem overwhelming. To help, here is a chart of some (not all) nonbinary pronouns, along with the grammatical function of each one to help you understand how they’re used (and
conjugated). You can plug each set into this sentence to see how each pronoun is used:
[Column 1 subject form] told me to text [column 2 object form], but I don’t have [column 3 possessive form] number.
| subject form (same grammatical function as he, she, and nonbinary they) |
object form (same grammatical function as him, her, and nonbinary them) |
possessive adjective form (same grammatical function as his, her, and nonbinary their) |
| xe |
xem |
xyr |
| xe |
xim |
xis |
| xe |
xir |
xir |
| xe |
hir |
hir |
| xie |
xem |
xyr |
| ze |
zir |
zir |
| ze |
zan |
zan |
| zie |
zir |
zir |
| zhe |
zhim |
zhir |
| sie |
sier |
sier |
| ce |
cir |
cir |
| ve |
vir |
vir |
| ve |
vir |
vis |
In many (but not all) cases, the possessive pronoun form (the one equivalent to
theirs, as in
That book is theirs) is simply formed by adding
s to the possessive adjective form (the one that’s equivalent to
their):
That book is xyrs. Similarly, the
reflexive form (the one equivalent to
themself) is often formed by simply adding
self to the object form (the one that’s equivalent to them):
xemself.
What kind of pronoun is xe?
Xe is a
personal pronoun. It’s singular. But before we get too grammatical, it should be noted that
xe is what’s called a
neopronoun. A neopronoun is a gender-neutral
pronoun that has been recently coined to fill the lack of gender-neutral options in English (not all gender-neutral pronouns are neopronouns—singular
they has been used for centuries). Grammatically speaking,
xe is categorized as a
third person pronoun (like
he, she,
him,
her, and
them), meaning that it’s used to refer to anyone other than the person doing the addressing (
first person) or the ones being addressed (
second person).
Xe is a
nominative pronoun, meaning that it’s generally used as the subject of a sentence—the one doing the action—as opposed to the object (the one on the receiving end of some action). A common
objective form of
xe is
xem, as in
Xe asked me to drive xem home. However, other object forms are sometimes used. For more, check out our
guide to gender-neutral pronouns. And our
guide to gender-neutral language.
How do you pronounce the pronoun xe?
The neopronoun xe is typically pronounced zee (like the letter Z). The similar pronouns xie, ze, and zie are usually pronounced in the same way.
