What is a synonym for zir?
Zir is a pronoun that can serve the same grammatical function as
him or
her (as in
I gave zir the message) OR
his or
her (as in
This is zir book), except that it’s gender-neutral.
Zir 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. Some pronouns similar to
zir include
hir and
xir (both of which can be used in ways equivalent to both nonbinary
them and nonbinary
their). However, it should be noted that these shouldn’t be considered synonyms of
zir 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.
Zir is often used as part of the
ze/zir/zir set of pronouns, but it is sometimes also used as part of other, similar sets, such as
zie/zir/zir. 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 zir?
First and foremost: if someone says they use
zir 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
zir and
them/their, 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) |
| ze |
zir |
zir |
| zie |
zir |
zir |
| zhe |
zhim |
zhir |
| ze |
zan |
zan |
| xe |
xem |
xyr |
| xie |
xem |
xyr |
| xe |
xim |
xis |
| xe |
xir |
xir |
| xe |
hir |
hir |
| 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 zirs. 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):
zirself.
What kind of pronoun is zir?
How do you pronounce the pronoun zir?
Zir is typically pronounced zeer. Xyr is usually pronounced the same way.
