ze
noun1
The name of the Cyrillic script letter З / з.
ze
pron/ziː/
Etymology Possibly from Dutch zij.
1
Nonstandard, Rare a gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, equivalent to singular they, and coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.
- But I do know what sex ze is. It used to influence me. But now I talk to hir like a normal person. I mean, without thinking about what ze is.1996 June, Caitlin Sullivan with Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure, New York: Serpent's Tail, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, page 10:
- A case in point is Tula, a transgendered woman who for years lived well as a model and actress until ze was outed in both national and international media.1997 December 18, Kate Bornstein, My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, London, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC HQ1075.B69 1998, page 130:
3 more examples
- Ze takes my right hand in hirs and folds it into a fist.2006 March 22, Leslie Feinberg, Drag King Dreams, New York: Carroll & Graf, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3556.E427 D73 2006, page 205:
- Ze changed hir name to one of those New Testament names, and re-fashioned hirself into a soft, puffy, half-finished hermaphrodite nicknamed, The Pop n' Fresh Doe.2010 October 12, Erika Lopez, The Girl Must Die: A Monster Girl Memoir, Hicken, Jeffrey, San Francisco: Monster Girl Media, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 143:
- Hir face was implacable, but ze dashed away in tears.2011 March 15, M. J. Locke, Up Against It, New York: Tor, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3612.O249 U7 2011, page 361:
- Related terms
- other attested gender-neutral pronouns