Word for all genders

Are there masculine or feminine words in English? In general, there’s no distinction between masculine and feminine in English nouns. But sometimes we show gender in different words when referring to people or animals. In this article we’ll explain gender in English language in more detail. 

We’ve dedicated this special IELTS Grammar 101 article to International Women’s Day 2020external icon. We celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) every year on March 8. On this day, we recognise the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is #EachforEqual.

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What is “gender” in language?

About a quarter of the world’s languages uses gender. In technical terms, gender in languages is just one way of breaking up nouns into classes or categories. A noun is a part of language that names a person, place, thing, idea, action or quality. For example, nouns can refer to an individual name of a person, like Mike or Amrita. Also, it can refer to a place or thing. Examples of nouns might include Sydneyexternal icon, Louis Vuittonexternal icon, or Qantasexternal icon. In some languages, nouns, such as Qantas, can be male or female. Masculine of feminine. 

It’s important to distinguish between grammatical gender and natural gender. Natural gender is simply the biological sex of a person, animal or character. Grammatical gender is a way of classifying nouns. But this doesn’t always match up with the “natural gender” of the person or object being described. 

In some languages, grammatical gender is more than just “male” or “female.” Some languages have a “neuter” class. Other languages others have different genders for animate versus inanimate objects. See how this works in other languages. 

English makes life a little easier for us when it comes to gender and grammar.

Are there any masculine and feminine words in English?

In general, there’s no distinction between masculine and feminine in English language. But sometimes we show gender in different words when referring to people or animals. 

List of masculine and feminine words in English:
Masculine Feminine Gender neutral
man woman person
father mother parent
boy girl child
uncle aunt
husband wife spouse
actor actress
prince princess
waiter waitress server
rooster hen chicken
stallion mare horse

How does gender work in foreign languages?

In English we do not assign a gender to words. But how does gender work in foreign languages?  For Italians, boys (il bambino) are masculine. Girls (la bambina), on the other hand, are feminine. Germans, for example, assign three different genders to the three basic eating utensils: fork (die Gabel) is feminine. A knife (das Messer) is neutral. And, finally, a spoon (der Löffel) is masculine. Strangely, German doesn’t assign a gender to a young lady (das Mädchen). 

Of course, German is not the only language that considers lifeless objects “male” or “female.” It also is not the only language that assigns living beings a grammatical gender unrelated to their sex. In Irish, for example, a girl (cailín) is masculine, while a stallion (stail) is feminine. The list goes on. If you want to know more, check this short articleexternal icon

Why is a ship called “she”?

Interestingly, in Modern English, there are some word groups which are considered ‘feminine’, at least in a poetic or quaint sense. These include ships, countries and churches, for example. 

Therefore, in English, ships are sometimes referred to as “she”. For example, “I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth; she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship.” 

A naval historian provides an explanationexternal icon why this might be the case. As we have seen, other languages have “male”, “female” and sometimes “neuter” words. But, English generally uses a neutral words such as “the” or “it”. So, making ships female and calling them “she” is an example of old English-speaking practice. Why? Because it gives a gender to an inanimate object. It’s worth noting that Lloyd’s Register of Shipping now calls ships “it”. 

There are some other examples of gender in English language, too: 

  • I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion. 

  • France is popular with her (France’s) neighbours at the moment. 

  • I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth; she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship. 

So, if you’re a non-native speaker of English and want to impress someone with your linguistic knowledge, make a reference to a ship or country using the word ‘she’. “The Titanic sank in 1912, didn’t she?” But, you have to be careful. It might make you seem a tiny bit pretentious. It is also not very gender inclusive.

What is gender-inclusive language?

We’ve had a look why some words are referred to as “she”. In fact, we use “man” and words ending in “-man” far more as gendered nouns in English. Let’s look at the example of “fireman.” We don’t really say “firewoman” in English. But women certainly fight firesexternal icon. The profession of fighting fires was historically a predominantly male job. 

At the same time, traditionally feminine nouns such as actress and waitress are becoming less common. There are lots of examples where the masculine term of actor and waiter is now used for both men and women. 

That’s why language is important 

A linguistics professor explainsexternal icon that the language we use doesn’t only reflect our culture, but also constructs it. That means that language can set expectations about how people are supposed to be. If you see a job advertised online and it says “Barman needed now!” it implies they are looking for a man, not a woman. Similarly, how many men do you think would apply to an advert asking for “waitresses”? 

It’s the same with fireman or policeman. The more we use these words, the more people expect those jobs to be done by men. But, there are very, very few jobs out there that require one gender to do the role rather than being open to both 

Luckily, you can spot these gender-biased words easily in English. And, it’s also very easy to replace them with neutral language. We have a list of examples with gender inclusive words. 

List of gender-inclusive words

Gendered noun Gender-neutral noun
man person, individual
mankind people, human beings, humanity
Fireman Firefighter
freshman first-year student
man-made machine-made, synthetic, artificial
the common man the average person
chairman chair, chairperson, coordinator, head
mailman mail carrier, letter carrier, postal worker
policeman police officer
steward, stewardess flight attendant
actor, actress actor
congressman legislator, congressional representative
Sir (in “Dear Sir,” etc.) Dear Sir or Madam, Dear Editor, Dear Members of the Search Committee, To Whom it May Concern
Waiter, waitress Server or wait staff
Ladies & Gentlemen Folks or everybody
Boyfriend, girlfriend Partner, significant other
Salesman, saleswoman Salesperson or sales representative

Why use gender-inclusive language?

So, why would you use gender inclusive language? It’s good to use words that avoids bias towards a particular sex or social gender. In the list of gender-inclusive language you can see terms such as “chairman.” This word contains the component -man. Yet, women are equally capable of holding very senior positions. If you use the term chairperson, it means the same but demonstrates inclusion of all people, regardless of their biological gender. 

  • So, by not using a word ending in “-man” as the as the standard for certain jobs, we can normalise the idea that anyone can perform a job, regardless of their gender identity.

How gender-inclusive are you? Test yourself.

“A father and son get in a car crash and are rushed to the hospital. The father dies. The boy is taken to the operating room and the surgeon says, “I can’t operate on this boy, because he’s my son.” 

How is this possible? 

Check your answer below

How to use gender-inclusive language in your IELTS Writing and Speaking test?

The IELTS Speaking test is supposed to represent a normal conversation between two people. But, it is also an opportunity to show off your language skills. So, you could impress your examiner by using gender-neutral words. If you talk about jobs, use “salesperson” instead of “salesman.” Makes sense, right? 

You can get a higher IELTS band score if you show the ability to use idiomatic expressions appropriately, but perhaps stick with common idiomatic expressions that are well-known. We’ve provided some helpful lists with our Idioms A-Z: Explained.

Check your answer

About 40-75% of people can’t solve this riddle because they’re unable to imagine the surgeon is a woman. The surgeon is the boy’s mother.

This section contains a list of masculine and feminine words varying in different categories. We have got two tables to provide you enough nouns with their gender words.

It is recommended to learn about different types of gender to help you distinguish the noun words.

Examples of Masculine and Feminine Gender Nouns

Table 1 : It Contains all the widely used words like father, brother, dad, aunt etc.

Masculine Feminine
Father Mother
Son Daughter
Brother Sister
God goddess
Man Woman
Bachelor Maid / Spinster
Cock Hen
Dog Bitch
Bull Cow
Drone Bee
Gander Goose
Waiter Waitress
Stag Hind
Gentleman Lady
Earl Countess
Husband Wife
Dad mom
Lord Lady
King Queen
Monk Nun
Boy Girl
Sir Madam
Uncle Aunt
Nephew Niece
Daddy mummy
Wizard Witch
Hart Roe
Drake Duck
Lion Lioness
Count Countess
Giant Giantess

Table 2: it is just the continuation of table 1 and adds more words to the list. Some words are less know while others are quite common and are used on a daily basis.

Masculine Feminine
Priest Priestess
Prophet Prophetess
Poet Poetess
Patron Patroness
Host Hostess
Viscount Viscountess
Shepherd Shepherdess
Steward Stewardess
Author Authoress
Manager Manageress
Bridegroom Bride
Jew Jewess
Baron Baroness
Mayor Mayoress
Peer Peeress
Negro Negress
Abbot Abbess
Emperor Empress
Traitor Traitress
Actor Actress
Benefactor Benefactress
Instructor Instructress
Conductor Conductress
Founder Foundress
Hunter Huntress
Tempter Temptress
Master Mistress
Tiger Tigress
Duke Duchess
Enchanter Enchantress
Songster Songstress
Hero Heroine
Sultan Sultana
Czar Czarina
Signor Signora
Man-servant Maid-servant
Prince Princess
He-goat She-goat
Cock-sparrow Hen-sparrow
Policeman Policewoman
Bull-calf Cow-calf
Murderer Murderess
Grand-father Grand-mother
Land-lord Land-lady
Milkman Milkmaid
Peacock Peahen

If you are curious enough and want to know how the feminine version of a word is formed follow the 3 rule guide to change the gender.

If you always had to figure out what is going to be the female or the male version of a particular word then this table and those bonus rules will help you find the words that you struggle with.

And we will try to keep the list updated with the latest material. Till then keep exploring EnglishBix for more quality resources on gender and its types.

Quick Links

English is not known for having gender specific nouns like some other languages (for example Spanish or French), but gender specific nouns do exist in English.  Because English does not have as many gender specific nouns as other languages, one nice thing about English is that you don’t have to worry about gender agreement between nouns and adjectives.  So, when you start thinking about how hard it is to learn English, just remember that you don’t have to worry too much about noun gender and gender agreement in English. (Learning how to do this in other languages is something that most English speakers find very difficult.)

There are a small number of words in English that do have different forms to indicate male and female gender though, but really these are very few.  Other than gender specific words for some animals (like: buck and deer, gander and geese) and words like man, woman, girl, boy, mother and father, English has only a few dozen gender specific nouns. Below I have listed some of the most common gender specific nouns found in English.  If a neutral, non-gender specific, form of the word exists I also listed that word too. If a neutral form of the word doesn’t exist, the male form of the word usually becomes the de facto neutral version. For some words, often words that are related to professions, if no female version of the word exists a neutral word has been created. Take a look at these and see if there are any new words you can add to your vocabulary.

Male Female Neutral
actor actress
bachelor spinster single person
emperor empress
hero heroine
host hostess
landlord landlady
steward stewardess flight attendant
waiter waitress server
fireman firefighter
policeman police officer
mailman letter carrier
salesman salesperson

В английском языке, как и любом другом, четко различается половая принадлежность людей и животных. Для этого существуют gender words / гендерные слова.

Masculine gender / Мужской пол

The naming words used for men, boys and male animals. / Слова, используемые для именования мужчин, мальчиков и животных мужского пола:

My father is tall, brutal and very masculine. | Мой отец — высокий, брутальный и очень мужественный.

My brother is a good sportsman. / Мой брат — хороший спортсмен.

I’ve never seen this boy before. | Я никогда не видел этого мальчика раньше.

His stallion is thoroughbred. / Его жеребец — чистокровный.

Feminine gender / Женский пол

The naming words used for women, girls and female animals. / Слова, которые используют для обозначения женщин, девочек и животных женского пола:

My mother is small, slim and very feminine. / Моя мама — маленькая, стройная и очень женственная.

My sister is a dancer. / Моя сестра — танцовщица.

This girl is very talented. / Эта девочка очень талантлива.

My mare is so stubborn. | Моя кобыла такая упрямая.

Possessive adjectives / Притяжательные местоимения

Притяжательные местоимения в английском меняются в зависимости от указания гендерной принадлежности.

He / Он His / Его
She / Она Her (Hers) / Ее

He took his hat and left the house. / Он взял свою шляпу и вышел из дома.

— It is your car? — No, it’s hers. / — Это твоя машина? — Нет, ее.

В случае, если мы не уверены в гендерной принадлежности владельца, употребляем нейтральное their / их.

The user has updated their journal. / Пользователь обновил свой журнал.

Обращение к людям также различается по гендерному признаку:

Male / Мужчина Female / Женщина
Sir / Сэр Madam / Мадам
Mister / Мистер Miss (Missis) / Мисс (Миссис)

How are you, madam? / Как поживаете, мадам?

Relatives / Родственники

Мы четко разделяем названия членов семьи и близких людей по гендерному признаку.

Masculine / Мужской Feminine / Женский
Father / Папа Mother / Мама
Grandfather (Grandpa) / Дедушка Grandmother (Grandma) / Бабушка
Man / Мужчина Woman / Женщина
Brother / Брат Sister / Сестра
Groom / Жених Bride / Невеста
Uncle / Дядька Aunt / Тетка
Nephew / Племянник Niece / Племянница

To tell you the truth, my aunt is rather eccentric. / По правде говоря, моя тетушка довольно эксцентрична.

Gender words formation / Словообразование гендерных слов

Слова, указывающие на гендерную принадлежность, могут образовываться разными способами. Например, некоторые слова женского рода получаются путем присоединения приставок либо окончаний или соединения слов. Другие являются самостоятельными.

Образование женской формы слов при помощи приставок и окончаний и объединения слов:

Hunter / Охотник Huntress / Охотница
Shepherd / Пастух Shepherdess / Пастушка
Priest / Жрец Priestess / Жрица
Manservant / Слуга Maidservant / Служанка
Songster / Певец Songstress / Певица
Groomsman / Шафер Bridesmaid / Подружка невесты
Landlord / Владелец Landlady / Владелица

My landlord requests the rent in advance. / Мой арендодатель требует арендную плату вперед.

Примеры самостоятельных слов, относящихся к женскому полу:

King / Король Queen / Королева
Wizard / Колдун Witch / Колдунья
Monk / Монах Nun / Монахиня

They say this woman is a real witch. / Говорят, эта женщина — настоящая ведьма.

Animals / Животные

Слова, указывающие на гендерную принадлежность животных, также образуются при помощи приставок и окончаний, либо являются самостоятельными.

Tiger / Тигр Tigress / Тигрица
Lion / Лев Lioness / Львица
Stallion / Жеребец Mare / Кобыла
Rooster (Cock) / Петух Hen / Курица
Bull / Бык Cow / Корова
Dog / Кобель Bitch / Сука
Drake / Селезень Duck / Утка
Stag / Олень Hind / Олениха
Peacock / Павлин Peahen / Самка павлина
Ram / Баран Ewe / Овца

This bull is dangerous. / Этот бык опасен.

Gender neutrality in English / Гендерная нейтральность в английском языке

Современные реалии, разумеется, накладывают свой отпечаток на язык. Так, сторонники гендерного равенства требуют, чтобы к ним обращались, избегая указания на половую принадлежность. Именно поэтому в лондонском метро два года назад изменили традиционное обращение “Ladies and gentlemen” / “Леди и джентльмены” на нейтральное “Hello everyone” / “Приветствуем всех”, чтобы ненароком не задеть чувства различных меньшинств, трансгендеров и неопределившихся граждан.

Канадцы пошли еще дальше и изменили слова национального гимна, а именно строчку “True patriot love in all thy sons command” / “Патриотическая любовь движет твоими сынами”. Активисты страшно возмутились тем обстоятельством, что любовью к стране движимы только сыновья. Ныне эта строка звучит: “True patriot love in all of us command” / Всех нас движет патриотическая любовь”. Теперь вроде все довольны.

Порой вся эта деятельность приводит к курьезным результатам. Некоторые активистки на Западе всерьез требуют исключить из речи слово man / мужчина, обосновывая свою позицию тем, что часто оно используется в значении “человек”. А это оскорбительно, мол, не намек ли это на то, что женщина — как бы не совсем человек. Как быть с тем, что это слово, как ни удивительно, является частью слова woman / женщина, они еще не решили.

В России идут нешуточные бои за внедрение в речь словообразований вроде “авторка” или “терапевтка”, которые звучат как минимум странно. Законодатели правил в английском пошли противоположным путем: слова, обозначающие профессии, теперь должны носить нейтральный оттенок. Например, вместо stewardess / стюардесса теперь следует говорить flight attendant / бортпроводник. Вместо brakeman / оператор тормозных механизмов — brake operator.

На фоне этого немного странно звучит, что всех актеров, независимо от пола, теперь рекомендуется именовать actor, a никак не actress. Когда мы изучаем английский по фильмам, даже не задумываемся об этом. А зря. Должно быть, активисты сами немного запутались в вопросе. В какой номинации теперь будут награждать лучших актрис на церемонии вручения премии “Оскар”, непонятно. Впрочем, скоро эта номинация, возможно, станет неактуальной, ведь в сериале Billions / Миллиарды уже появился гендерно нейтральный персонаж, которого сыграл гендерно нейтральный актер. Или актриса. Впрочем, когда его (ее) номинировали на Emmy Award / Премию Эмми, сам исполнитель выбрал категорию “actor”. На этой оптимистической ноте, пожалуй, и закончим. Хорошо, когда все счастливы, ведь правда?

What is a gender specific word?

According to Grammar Monster, there are many different words in the English language that are gender specific to male and females. These are terms like policeman and policewoman, actor and actress, fireman, salesman, mankind, businessman, stewardess and steward, postman and postwoman, waiter and waitress, or using “dear sir or madam” at the beginning of a letter. These words depend on knowing the gender identity of a person, which is often assumed to match their biological sex. However, it is usually far better to opt for gender-inclusive language or gender neutral language to refer to people. Instead of gender specific language for a profession or type of person, opt for gender-neutral language like chairperson, servers, letter carrier, firefighter, police officer, postal worker, flight attendant, sibling, humankind, or spouse. Specific languages like French or German have all of their nouns have a gender.  Some view not using gender-neutral words and using gender-specific language to be sexist language that is dated. Try to avoid using specifically masculine nouns or feminine nouns unless you are positive about the group you are speaking to, and opt for gender-neutral terms instead.

Many different languages also use different words that mean gender. You may notice that some of these translations of masculine look similar to the word adjective. These are called cognates, which are often formed when two words have the same root or language of origin.This list of translations of gender comes via Word Sense, but you can also find translations via other online dictionaries.

  •  Kyrgyz: род‎
  •  Slovene: spol‎ (masc.)
  •  Romanian: gen‎ (neut.)
  •  Lithuanian: lytis‎ (masc.)
  •  Khmer: លិង្គ‎ (lɨng)
  •  Uzbek: rod‎
  •  Hindi: लिंग‎ (masc.)
  •  Asturian: xéneru‎ (masc.)
  •  Japanese: 性‎ (せい, sei)
  •  Norwegian: kjønn‎ (neut.)
  •  Swedish: genus‎ (neut.)
  •  Icelandic: kyn‎ (neut.)
  •  Polish: rodzaj‎ (masc.)
  •  Faroese: kyn‎ (neut.)
  •  Greek: γένος‎ (neut.)
  •  Cyrillic: род‎ (masc.)
  •  Latvian: dzimte‎ (fem.)
  •  Maltese: sess‎ (masc.)
  •  Macedonian: род‎ (masc.)
  •  Georgian: სქესი‎, გენდერი‎
  •  Thai: ลิงค์‎
  •  Italian: genere‎
  •  Galician: xénero‎ (masc.)
  •  Mandarin: 性別‎, 性别‎ (xìngbié)
  •  Russian: род‎ (masc.)
  •  Estonian: sugu‎
  •  Volapük: gen‎
  •  Dutch: geslacht‎ (neut.), genus‎ (neut.), woordgeslacht‎ (neut.)
  •  Burmese: လိင်‎
  •  Ukrainian: рід‎ (masc.)
  •  Esperanto: genro‎
  •  Finnish: suku‎
  •  Hebrew: מִין‎
  •  Gujarati: લિંગ‎
  •  Danish: køn‎ (neut.)
  •  Ido: genro‎
  •  Pashto: جنس‎
  •  Sanskrit: लिंग‎
  •  Portuguese: género‎ (masc.) (Portugal), gênero‎ (masc.) (Brazil)
  •  Turkish: cins‎, cinsiyet‎
  •  Albanian: gjini‎
  •  Marathi: लिंग‎
  •  Indonesian: jenis‎
  •  Tajik: ҷинс‎
  •  Irish: inscne‎ (fem.)
  •  Malay: gender‎
  •  Catalan: gènere‎ (masc.)
  •  Scottish Gaelic: gnè‎ (fem.)
  •  Belarusian: род‎ (masc.)
  •  Persian: جنس‎ (jens)
  •  Korean: 성‎ (性‎)
  •  German: Geschlecht‎ (neut.)
  •  Bengali: লিঙ্গ‎
  •  French: genre‎ (masc.)
  •  Afrikaans: geslag‎
  •  Kazakh: род‎ (masc.), тек‎
  •  Tatar: җенес‎
  •  Azeri: cins‎
  •  Oriya: ଲିଙ୍ଗ‎
  •  Armenian: սեռ‎
  •  Roman: rod‎ (masc.)
  •  Vietnamese: giống‎
  •  Urdu: لنگ‎
  •  Latin: genus‎ (neut.)
  •  Chechen: род‎
  •  Hungarian: nem‎
  •  Arabic: جِنْس‎ (masc.)
  •  Czech: rod‎ (masc.)
  •  Slovak: rod‎ (masc.)
  •  Norman: genre‎ (masc.)
  •  Spanish: género‎ (masc.)
  •  Bulgarian: род‎ (masc.)
  •  Walloon: djinre‎ (masc.)
  •  Turkmen: rod‎.

What are examples of gender specific words?

A gender specific word can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! The following sentences are examples of gender specific words from Grammar Monster  and UNC that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term gender specific words today or notice when someone else is using a gender specific word.

  •    Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. (Actor Jim Carrey)
  •   Ask her to describe her purpose and audience and show how she has taken them into account in her writing.
  •   I haven’t spoken to my wife in years. I didn’t want to interrupt her. (Comedian Rodney Dangerfield)
  •   Respond as a reader, explaining what you were thinking as you read his text so that he can discover where a reader might struggle with his writing.
  •   Don’t call me “chairman” because I’m a woman. Don’t call me “chairwoman” because my sex is irrelevant. Don’t call me “chairperson” because that term is trying too hard not to be sexist. Call me “chair.”
  •   She got her looks from her father. He’s a plastic surgeon. (Comedian Groucho Marx)
  •  A student who loses too much sleep may have trouble focusing during [his/her] exams.
  •  When the winner has been selected, she or he will be advanced to the next round of the competition.
  •  Our agreement is that the first person who picks up his or her cell phone must treat the rest of the group to dinner.
  •   My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. (Writer Mark Twain)

What are other grammar terms?

There are many different grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.

  • gerund
  •  special use
  •  subordinate clause
  •  noun (n.)
  •  zero
  •  inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •  similative
  •  third-person
  •  mass noun
  •  plural
  •  intensifier
  •  direct speech
  •  dual
  •  construed (const., constr.)
  •  apodosis and protasis
  •  double object
  •  parenthetical | parenthetically
  •  prepositional phrase
  •  proper noun | proper name
  •  past participle
  •  clause
  •  adverbial | adverbially
  •  anaphoric
  •  protasis
  •  to-infinitive
  •  absolute (absol.)
  •  number
  •  subject
  •  antecedent
  •  combining form (comb. form)
  •  bare infinitive
  •  conditional
  •  concrete
  •  auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •  indirect question
  •  modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
  •  passive infinitive
  •  parasynthetic
  •  main verb
  •  genitive
  •  progressive
  •  comparative
  •  pronoun (pron.)
  •  abstract
  •  prepositional passive
  •  singular
  •  preposition (prep.)
  •  unmarked genitive
  •  suffix
  •  predicate
  •  postmodify | postmodifier
  •  base form
  •  perfect
  •  nominal relative | nominal 
  •  interrogative
  •  coordinating conjunctions
  •  periphrasis | periphrastic
  •  active
  •  quasi-
  •  feminine
  •  pro-form
  •  definite article
  •  positive
  •  complement
  •  apposition
  •  verbal noun
  •  dative
  •  second person
  •  conjunction (conj.)
  •  reflexive
  •  nominative
  •  simple
  •  past tense
  •  neuter
  •  count noun
  •  objective
  •  compound sentence
  •  imperative (imper.)
  •  quotation marks
  •  causative
  •  prefix
  •  construction
  •  agree | agreement
  •  compound | compounding
  •  phrasal verb
  •  participle | past participle | present participle
  •  passive
  •  collocation | collocate
  •  adjective
  •  instrumental
  •  non-referential
  •  common noun
  •  gender
  •  subjective
  •  first person
  •  impersonal (impers.)
  •  anticipatory
  •  accusative
  •  case
  •  adverb (adv.)
  •  part of speech
  •  cataphoric
  •  possessive case
  •  copular verb | copula
  •  ellipsis | elliptical
  •  modify | modifier
  •  article
  •  irregular verb
  •  determiner
  •  person
  •  relative clause
  •  superlative
  •  premodify | premodifier
  •  indirect passive
  •  attributive
  •  intransitive
  •  non-finite
  •  pleonasm | pleonastic
  •  participial adjective
  •  subjunctive
  •  locative
  •  infinitive
  •  mood
  •  direct object
  •  indicative
  •  phrase (phr.)
  •  active voice
  •  prepositional object
  •  direct question
  •  cognate object
  •  filler
  •  finite
  •  element
  •  vocative
  •   indirect speech
  •  indirect object
  •  combination
  •  possessive adjective
  •  interjection
  •  object | direct object | indirect object
  •  declarative
  •  indefinite
  •  agent noun
  •  head
  •  concrete noun
  •  main clause
  •  tense
  •  masculine
  •  transitive
  •  stem
  •  appositive
  •  verb (v.)
  •  collective noun
  •  relative
  •  complementary
  •  noun phrase
  •  present tense
  •  possessive pronoun
  •  possessive
  •  personal pronoun
  •  optative
  •  that-clause
  •  demonstrative
  •  predicative
  •  morpheme
  •  present participle
  •  sentence adverb |sentence adverbial

Overall, the grammatical gender specific words refer to the gender used to refer to males and females in English. 

Sources:

  1. Gender-specific Noun | What Is a Gender-specific Noun? | Grammar Monster 
  2. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED 
  3. Gender-Inclusive Language – The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  

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Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do’s and don’ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.

Caution icon - Noun Project 9556 white.svg Content warningThis article mentions reclaimed slurs and potentially offensive terms. If you are not comfortable with reading about this kind of topic, we suggest you take a step back.

This glossary of English gender and sex terminology shows actual language use. Unless a word is marked with a specific country, assume all these words may be used internationally, in any country where English is spoken.

This glossary’s selection of words has a focus on nonbinary identities, and closely related subjects of gender non-conformity. This glossary also collects words about gender and sexuality, especially words used by or in reference to LGBT+ identities as well as intersex conditions, as these provide essential context, and often have an overlap with the main subject. The glossary includes psychiatric terminology as well as subcultural slang, and obsolete historical terms as well as very new words (neologisms). The words cover identity labels, gender-neutral pronouns, diagnoses, and political issues.

If you put more words into this glossary, try to only put in words that you wouldn’t find in the average pocket dictionary. Give sources to show that the word is really used in the way you say, or, if the wiki has an entry about that word, link to it. Keep glossary entries short, about three lines long at most. If they get too long, make a new wiki article for them.

Although it is useful to learn how to understand specialized jargon, you can be more helpful to your readers if you keep your own writing easy to understand. When writing for this wiki, please try to use plain English as much as possible, and use specialized jargon only sparingly, and as needed.

A[edit | edit source]

  • ace. Short for asexual, which see.[1]
  • AGAB. Assigned gender at birth. Most people are either assigned female at birth (AFAB) or assigned male at birth (AMAB).
  • AFAB. See AGAB.

The most commonly used agender pride flag, created in 2014.

  • agender. A nonbinary identity. 1. Some who call themselves agender have no gender identity (genderless). 2. Some who call themselves agender have a gender identity, which isn’t female or male, but neutral.
  • altersex. Describes people or fictional characters for whom «their actual body or their desired body does not conform to either binary sex standard in some way, but is not this way due to any variation of intersex. This can be due to sexual transitioning, being of a fictional/impossible sex, being able to shapeshift to change sex characteristics, or having an ‘alien’ sex that is not found in humans but may be found elsewhere, such as a species that has different sexes from our own.» Coined by farorenightclaw.[2] Intended to replace problematic terms like «futanari», «herm», «dickgirl», etc.[3] Has been called transphobic by some[4] and should not be applied to real life people who do not identify themselves as such.[5]
  • AMAB. See AGAB.

Androgyne symbol. In 1996, self-identified androgyne Raphael Carter proposed adopting this ambiguous geometric shape, the Necker Cube, as a symbol for androgynes, «because it is either concave or convex depending on how you look at it.»[6][7]

  • ambonec. A nonbinary «gender identity in which you identify as both male and female, yet you also identify as neither, at the same time.»[8][9][10]
  • androgyne. This word is used for a wide variety of gender nonconforming and nonbinary gender identities and gender expressions.
  • androphilic. A romantic and sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to men or masculinity.[11]
  • angenital or ANG. «an identity in which you feel uncomfortable (potentially dysphoric) with having any sort of genitalia (sex) at all but do not mind gendered pronouns or having a gender label. You have a desire to be sexless but not necessarily genderless.» Coined by uchuulien.[12] See also genital nullification.
  • aporagender. Coined in 2014, from Greek apo, apor «separate» + «gender».[13] A nonbinary gender identity and umbrella term for «a gender separate from male, female, and anything in between while still having a very strong and specific gendered feeling» (that is, not an absence of gender).[14]
  • aromantic or aro. A romantic orientation in which a person doesn’t feel romantic attraction to people of any gender.[15]
  • asexuality. A sexual orientation in which a person doesn’t feel sexual attraction to people of any gender. Asexual people might still feel other types of attraction.[16]
  • a-spec or a-spectrum. The community of anyone who is in some way asexual or aromantic.

B[edit | edit source]

  • berdache. An old word used by European-American people and anthropologists for gender roles in Native American cultures that are now called two-spirit.
  • bi. Short for bisexual, which see.
  • bigender. Bigender individuals have two gender identities, at the same time, or at different times.[17]
  • bigenital. Describes a person who wishes to have genitalia of both binary sexes. Not exclusive to nonbinary people. Synonyms​: aphrodisian, salmacian[18]
  • binarism. Discrimination against ethnic groups and cultures that recognize nonbinary genders, based on the sexist belief that there are only two genders (nonbinary erasure).
  • binary gender. A gender identity that fits neatly into only one of the two genders in a gender binary system.
  • binder. An undergarment that a person can wear to make their chest look flat. Some transgender men and some nonbinary people wear these to flatten their breast tissue, if they haven’t had top surgery.
  • biological boy. A less correct term for an AMAB person, which see.
  • biological girl. A less correct term for an AFAB person, which see.
  • bisexual. 1. (Obsolete) Intersex.[6] 2. A sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to more than one gender (this can include nonbinary genders).[19][20]
  • boi. From «boy.» A gender identity that is masculine and queer. Beyond that, the specific definition varies greatly across the LGBT+ community.[21]
  • bottom. A person who takes a submissive role in sexual activity.
  • bottom surgery. In the transgender community, euphemism for any gender-validating surgery on a transgender person’s reproductive organs or genitals.
  • boydyke. An AFAB person with a masculine gender expression.[22]
  • boy mode. In transgender and nonbinary communities, this means using clothes and other gender cues in order to be read as a male. Example usage: «I had to go to the interview in boy mode» or «Today was my first day going boy mode in public.»
  • butch. A masculine gender identity or expression, which some see as a nonbinary gender.

C[edit | edit source]

  • CAFAB. See CAGAB.
  • CAGAB. Coercively assigned gender at birth. Most people are either coercively assigned female at birth (CAFAB) or coercively assigned male at birth (CAMAB). Unlike AGAB and GAAB, CAGAB emphasizes that the gender was assigned against the person’s will, and implies that the person was abused as a child.
  • CAMAB. See CAGAB.
  • cisgender. From Latin cis «on the same side of» + «gender,» «coined in 1995 by a transsexual man named Carl Buijs.»[23] A person who isn’t transgender and isn’t nonbinary. The Latin prefix cis («on the same side of») is the opposite of the Latin prefix trans («to the other side of»).
  • cissexism. A form of sexism, specifically, a way of thought in which only cisgender people are seen as normal or right. Cissexism is harmful to all kinds of transgender people, including nonbinary people.
  • closet. To be «in the closet» means that a person is keeping their gender identity and/or sexual orientation a secret.
  • come out. «To recognize one’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex identity, and to be open about it with oneself and with others.»[24]
  • cross-dreamer. Coined by cross-dreamer Jack Molay.[25] Someone who feels sexually aroused by the thought of being a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth. They may or may not cross-dress or consider themselves transgender.[26]
  • cross-dresser. «Someone who wears clothes associated with another gender part of the time.»[27] A cross-dresser may consider themself to be cisgender or transgender.

D[edit | edit source]

  • demigender. An umbrella term for nonbinary gender identities that have a partial connection to a certain gender, such as demiboy, demifluid, demiflux, demigirl, and deminonbinary. [28][29]
  • demiromantic. A romantic orientation in which a person feels romantic attraction only after getting to know someone.[15]
  • demisexual. An orientation in which a person feels sexual attraction only after forming a connection with them.[30]
  • DGAB. Short for Designated Gender At Birth. Most people are either Designated Female At Birth (DFAB) or Designated Male At Birth (DMAB).
  • drag. A gender expression that is exaggerated for theatrical performance. Although usually cross-gender, and associated with the gay and lesbian communities, drag of any kind can be done by a person of any gender identity or sexual orientation. Drag kings make a performance out of masculinity. Drag queens make a performance out of femininity.
  • DSD (short for Disorder of Sex Development or Difference of Sex Development)[31][32] ​Any kind of intersex condition. Note: «DSD» terminology is controversial in the intersex community.[33]
  • dyadic. A person whose body is not intersex. Synonyms: perisex, endosex.
  • dyadism. The sexist belief that humans have only two sexes, either female or male, resulting in discrimination against intersex people.

E[edit | edit source]

  • e, em, eir, eirs, eirself. A set of gender-neutral pronouns, made popular by writer Michael Spivak in the 1980s.[34] There are many similar sets with small differences.
  • effeminate. A feminine man. Some see this as an offensive word.[25]
  • emasculation. A surgery to take away the penis and testicles.
  • emoji pronouns. A type of pronoun set used in online communication.[35] For example «🌸/🌸s/🌸self» or «🔥/🔥s/🔥s/🔥self».
  • enban. Created in the «askanonbinary» blog in 2014, based on the word «enby», which see. A proper noun for a nonbinary adult person. A nonbinary equivalent of «man» or «woman». Another blogger, coderqueer, then offered the spelling variant «enbian.»[36]
  • enbian. 1. An enban, which see. 2. Of or pertaining to nonbinary gender. 3. An orientation word for nonbinary people attracted to other nonbinary people, see Romantic and sexual orientation#Enbian.
  • enbies. See enby.
  • enby. Created in 2013 by a nonbinary person named vector (revolutionator).[37] Based on an initialism of «nonbinary,» «NB». A proper noun for a person with a nonbinary gender identity. This is the nonbinary gender equivalent of the proper nouns «boy» or «girl.» Plural: enbies.
  • enbyfan. equivalent of «fanboy» or «fangirl»
  • enbyfriend. Coined by Tumblr user Pansycub in 2013, based on the word «enby,» which see. A nonbinary gender romantic partner. The nonbinary gender equivalent of a boyfriend or girlfriend.[38]
  • endosex. Adjective meaning «not intersex».[39][40] Synonyms: dyadic, perisex.
  • en femme. In cross-dressing communities, this means dressed as a woman.[41]
  • en homme. In cross-dressing communities, this means dressed as a man.
  • eonism. Term for an AMAB person dressing as a woman. Coined by sexologist Havelock Ellis, derived from the name of a historical figure, Chevalier d’Éon.[42]
  • eunuch. A person who was assigned male at birth and had some or all of their private parts removed. Some transgender people think of themselves as eunuchs. Some think of eunuch as a nonbinary gender identity.[43]
  • exorsexism. A term for discrimination against nonbinary people, whether intentional or not.[44] Coined in 2016 by tumblr user vergess.[45] Also called enbyphobia.[46]

F[edit | edit source]

  • FAAB. See GAAB.
  • Female. Anyone with a female gender identity is female. Regardless of what gender she was assigned at birth, or what kind of body parts she has or wants to have, if she identifies as female, then she is a woman or girl.
  • female to male transsexual (FTM). A trans man. This term was coined by trans man Lou Sullivan, «in response to the custom of medical doctors and psychologists labeling us ‘female transsexuals.'»[47] FTM can also mean nonbinary people who transition in a way similar to trans men, and describe themselves as being on the FTM spectrum. Abbreviated FTM, F2M.
  • femme, fem. A queer feminine gender identity or expression, which some see as a nonbinary gender.
  • femboy. A boy or man whose gender expression is feminine may be called a femboy or may self-identify as such.[48] Some femboys undergo hormone therapy to appear more feminine and/or less masculine, while still identifying as cisgender (though some end up later identifying as transgender).[49] In the 2021 Gender Census, 223 respondents (0.50% of total respondents) wrote that they were femboys.[50] Caution: «Femboy» should not be used against transfeminine people, as it is considered misgendering.
  • FFS. Acronym for facial feminization surgery.
  • fluid gender. A gender identity that changes.
  • FT*. Female to unspecified transgender. This term includes all transgender people who were assigned female at birth.
  • FTF. Female to female. A term used by some trans women/transfeminine people because they feel «MTF» wrongly implies they were formerly male, or because they dislike having to note their sex assigned at birth.[51] People using the label FTF might not identify as transgender.[52][53]
  • FTN. Female-to-neuter (or neutrois) transsexual (or transgender).[11]

G[edit | edit source]

  • GAAB. Gender Assigned At Birth. Most people are either Assigned Female At Birth (FAAB) or Assigned Male At Birth (MAAB). See also: AGAB, CAGAB, DGAB.
  • gaff. An undergarment that helps with tucking, which see.
  • GAS. Gender affirming surgery/surgeries.[54][55]
  • gatekeeper system. In the transgender community, this is slang for the system of health providers that decide whether to allow a transgender person to get gender-validating health care.[1]
  • GCS. Gender confirming surgery.
  • girl mode. In transgender and nonbinary communities, this means using clothes and other gender cues in order to be read as a female. Example usage: «I had to go to the interview in girl mode» or «Today was my first day going girl mode in public.»
  • gender binary. A model of gender that classifies all people into one of two genders, female or male.
  • gender dissonance. Gender dysphoria, which see.
  • gender diverse/gender diversity. Alternate term for «nonbinary».[56][57]
  • gender dysphoria. A clinical term. In transgender people, emotionally painful discontent about some aspect of one’s assigned gender. The aspect in question may be social gender dysphoria, body dysphoria, or other specific details, such as voice dysphoria. Some prefer the less clinical terms «gender incongruence» or «gender dissonance.»
  • gender expansive. «An umbrella term used for individuals who broaden their own culture’s commonly held definitions of gender, including expectations for its expression, identities, roles, and/or other perceived gender norms. Gender expansive individuals include those who identify as transgender, as well as anyone else whose gender in some way is seen to be stretching the surrounding society’s notion of gender.»[58]
  • gender expression. «The way in which a person expresses their gender identity through clothing, behavior, posture, mannerisms, speech patterns, activities and more.»[24]
  • genderfluid, or gender-fluid. A gender identity that often changes, so that a person may feel one day like a boy, and another day like a girl. Fluid gender.
  • genderflux. A gender identity that often changes in intensity, so that a person may feel one day as though they have almost no gender, or none at all, and another day they feel very gendered. «Whereas genderfluidity is a shift between different genders, genderflux is more like varying intensity.» [59]
  • genderfuck. A gender expression that intentionally mixes feminine gender markers with masculine.
  • gender hoarder. «When your gender is fluid or flux, but you can’t find just a few terms to describe what your fluctuating gender is, so you ‘hoard’ gender terms that fit you.»[60]
  • gender identity. «An individual’s internal sense of gender, which may or may not be the same as one’s gender assigned at birth.»[24] Most people identify as the gender that they were assigned at birth. They are described as ‘cisgender’.
  • Gender Identity Disorder (GID). «The medical diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostics and Statistics Manual IV (DSM4) used to describe a person who experiences significant gender dysphoria (lack of identification with one’s sex and/or gender assigned at birth).»[27]
  • genderism. «The system of belief that there are only two genders (men and women) and that gender is inherently tied to one’s sex assigned at birth. It holds cisgender people as superior to transgender people, and punishes or excludes those who don’t conform to society’s expectations of gender.»[27] See cissexism and nonbinary erasure. Note: when used by TERFs, «genderist» is a disparaging term for a person who «believes in gender ideology» (i.e. respects gender as self-identified, not based on biology).[61]
  • gender non-conformity (GNC). Regardless of gender identity or whether one is cisgender or transgender, resistance to conforming to a female or male gender expression.
  • genderpunk. Another term for genderfuck.[62]
  • gender presentation. All the signs of a person’s gender that other people can see.[63]

  • genderqueer. An umbrella term covering non-normative gender identity and gender expression. Genderqueer can also be a specific identity.
  • gender role. A society’s norms for how to divide labor by gender.
  • gender variant, gender variance. Gender expression that is different from Western cultural norms. Can mean gender non-conforming and/or transgender, as well as some non-Western gender roles.[65]
  • genetic boy. A less correct term for an AMAB person, which see.
  • genetic girl. A less correct term for an AFAB person, which see.
  • gray-asexual, or grey-romantic. A romantic or sexual orientation that partly lacks attraction to people of any gender.[15]
  • graygender, or greygender. Coined by Invernom. A nonbinary gender identity that is between agender and some other gender, so that it is difficult to place, and not fully the absence or presence of a gender.[66] Compare demigender.
  • GRS. Gender reassignment surgery.
  • gynephilic. A romantic or sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to women or femininity.[11]

H[edit | edit source]

  • hermaphrodite. An old word for a person with an intersex condition. Some see this word as offensive, and therefore only intersex people can reclaim this word. Non-intersex people shouldn’t use this word.
  • he-she or heshe. 1. An offensive word for a transgender woman. Only trans women can reclaim it. Other people shouldn’t use it. 2. Several sets of pronouns use heshe in the nominative form.
  • heteroromantic. A romantic orientation in which a person feels romantically attracted to people of a different gender than their own.[15]
  • heterosexism or heteronormativity. A sexist way of thought in which only heterosexuality is seen as normal, resulting in discrimination against people of other sexual orientations.[67]
  • hir. Many sets of gender-neutral pronouns use this word in the accusative or possessive forms. Some such sets are heesh, hi, se, s/he, sie, and ze.
  • homoromantic. A romantic orientation in which a person feels romantically attracted to people of the same gender as themself.[15]

I[edit | edit source]

  • Ind. Coined by Torin Unrealisk in 2014.[68] A gender-neutral title, short for «individual.»
  • intergender. A certain nonbinary gender identity in between female and male. In the 1990s, this was an identity label that any person could use, even if they were born with non-intersex (dyadic) bodies,[69] but others say it should only be used by people who were born with intersex bodies.[70]

  • intersex. 1. (obsolete) Homosexual.[6] 2. Intersex people have some aspect of their sex that is inconsistent with conventional ideas of male and female sex, in their primary or secondary sexual characteristics, hormones, or chromosomes.
  • institutional oppression. «Arrangement of a society used to benefit one group at the expense of another through the use of language, media education, religion, economics, etc.»[24]
  • internalized oppression. «The process by which an oppressed person comes to believe, accept, or live out the inaccurate stereotypes and misinformation about their group.»[27]
  • inversion. An early clinical term for «gender identity and role disturbance.» Early psychologists used the word «invert» for gay, lesbian, and transgender people, all alike.[71]
  • invisible minority. «A group whose minority status is not always immediately visible, such as some disabled people and LGBT+IQ people. This lack of visibility may make organizing for rights difficult.»[27]

L[edit | edit source]

  • Latin@ or Latinx. A gender-inclusive form of «Latino»/»Latina» (meaning a person with Latin American heritage). This word is controversial within Latino groups[72], thus should be used with caution. Some Latinos have offered the term Latine[73] instead, as it takes into account Spanish pronunciation.
  • lesbian. A person who identifies as a woman (or woman-aligned nonbinary person), who is romantically or sexually attracted to women (or women and women-aligned nonbinary people).

LGBT+ rainbow flag, representing diversity, based on the one designed in 1978.

  • LGBT. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Can be extended to LGBT+, LGBTQIA, etc. to explicitly show inclusion of other groups.
  • LGR. Legal Gender Recognition.

M[edit | edit source]

  • MAAB. See GAAB.
  • male. Anyone with a male gender identity is male. Regardless of what gender he was assigned at birth, or what kind of body parts he has or wants to have, if he identifies as male, then he is a man or boy.
  • male to female transsexual (MTF). A trans woman.

Maverique flag, by Vesper H., 2014. Yellow: nonbinary, not derived from female (pink) or male (blue), but its own (yellow, a primary color can’t come from any color mix). White: independence from the spectrum of other genders (colors). Orange: inner conviction.[74][75]

  • maverique. A specific nonbinary gender identity «characterized by autonomy and inner conviction regarding a sense of self that is entirely independent of male/masculinity, female/femininity or anything which derives from the two while still being neither without gender nor of a neutral gender.»[76]
  • misgender. To address someone in a way that contradicts their gender identity. This can be accidental, but if intentional, it can be an example of discrimination against transgender people (cissexism).[77]
  • monosexual. A catchall term for sexual orientations that are attracted to only one gender (homosexual or heterosexual).
  • MSM. Men who have sex with men. This term means that they don’t necessarily identify as gay or bisexual.
  • MT*. Male to unspecified transgender. This term includes all transgender people who were assigned male at birth.
  • MTF. Male-to-female transsexual (or transgender). A trans woman.
  • MTM. Male to male. A term used by some trans men/transmasculine people because they feel «FTM» wrongly implies they were formerly female, or because they dislike having to note their sex assigned at birth.[51][78] People using the label MTM might not identify as transgender.[52]
  • MTN. Male-to-neuter (or neutrois) transsexual (or transgender).[11]
  • multigender people have more than one gender identity, either at the same time, or sometimes changing between them.
  • multiromantic. See polyromantic.
  • Mx. Coined in 1982 or earlier.[79] Pronounced mux, mix, mixture, or mixter. A gender-neutral title.

N[edit | edit source]

  • NB or nb. An abbreviation for nonbinary. In some contexts this abbreviation means «non-Black», so the alternate abbreviations nbi/NBI/NBi, N-B/n-b[80], or NBY/nby can be used to avoid confusion when talking about nonbinary people.[81]
  • neopronouns. Any pronoun that is not traditionally part of the language. In English, neopronouns are any third-person pronouns other than he/him, she/her, they/them, or it/its.
  • neutrois. Coined by a neutrois person named H. A. Burnham in 1995.[82] Having one nonbinary gender identity that is neutral. Not female, not male, and not a mix. Some neutrois people are transsexual, experience gender dysphoria, and want to get a physical transition.[83]

Nonbinary flag by Kye Rowan in 2014. Yellow is for gender without reference to the gender binary. White: those with many or all genders. Purple: a mix of female and male. Black: without gender.

  • non-binary gender, nonbinary gender, or nonbinary. An umbrella term for all who don’t identify as just female or male. Though there are many kinds of nonbinary gender identities, some people identify as «nonbinary» only.
  • non-op. A trans person who hasn’t gotten surgery, and doesn’t desire surgery in the future.
  • nounself pronouns. In 2014, a community of nonbinary people on the social blogging site Tumblr.com came up with the idea of adapting any noun of one’s choosing into a third-person pronoun, to create a wide variety of very personal and descriptive pronouns. The pronoun sets can be themed around concepts that have nothing to do with gender, such as nature, technology, or abstract concepts.

O[edit | edit source]

  • orchiectomy. A kind of genital surgery.
  • out. If someone is said to be out, that means they are open about their LGBT+ identity. If someone is said to have been outed, that means that their LGBT+ identity was made public by someone else, against their will.[84]

P[edit | edit source]

  • packer. An artificial soft phallus. Nonbinary and/or transgender people on the transmasculine spectrum may wear these in their clothes as part of making a more male body shape.
  • pangender. A nonbinary gender identity that is made of a mix of all genders[85]. Or a fluid gender that could potentially be any gender. However, «all» and «any» don’t include genders that belong only to certain cultures or ethnic groups to which the person isn’t entitled.
  • panromantic The romantic orientation of being attracted to all genders.
  • pansexual The sexual orientation of being attracted to all genders.
  • passing. When a person is seen by others as their true gender, not as the gender they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people dislike this word, saying it gives the idea that they are being dishonest, when they are trying to be seen as they really are.[86]
  • passing woman. A historical term that describes cisgender women who presented themselves as men «in order to have access to a career or way of living that was available only to men.»[87]
  • perisex. Adjective meaning «not intersex».[88][89] Synonyms: endosex, dyadic.
  • polyamory. A long-term romantic and/or sexual relationship between more than two people at the same time, all of whom consent to the arrangement.[15]
  • polygender. A gender identity in which a person has more than one gender identity, at the same time, or a mix.[85][15]
  • polyromantic, polysexual romantic and sexual (respectively) attraction to some, but not all, genders
  • post-op. A trans person who has gotten surgery.
  • person perceived as a man (PPM) and person perceived as a woman (PPW). Created by Rabbit KM in 2015. People perceived as men are usually seen and treated as men, but who don’t identify as male. For example, masculine nonbinary people, and some trans women. Vice versa for people perceived as women. This term is useful for people who often get misgendered.[90]
  • pre-op. A trans person who hasn’t gotten surgery yet.
  • presentation. «The totality of one’s appearance, including attire, voice, behavior, body language, etc.»[22]
  • pronouns. Words that stand in for nouns. In a trans or nonbinary context this usually refers to singular third-person pronouns such as he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, ze/hir/hirs, etc. Pronouns are part of a person’s gender expression.
  • pumping. A body modification to the phallus, which may be part of the physical transition of trans people in the female-to-male spectrum.

Q[edit | edit source]

  • queer. A reclaimed slur for the LGBT+ community, and an umbrella term for identities that are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender. Some people use this as the name for their nonbinary gender identity.
  • questioning. The process of figuring out one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
  • QUILTBAG. Queer, undecided, intersex, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, asexual, gay.

S[edit | edit source]

  • same-gender loving (SGL). Romantic and/or sexual attraction to the same gender. Originated in Black communities.[1]
  • secondary sex characteristics. «Physical characteristics that emerge with the onset of puberty, including but not limited to: facial and body hair growth, muscle development, voice changes, breast development, and the ability to reproduce.»[22]
  • sex reassignment surgery. «A term used by some medical professionals to refer to a group of surgical options that alter a person’s sex to match their sex identity.»[27] Generally this refers to the category of procedures colloquially called bottom surgery, but might also be used for other surgeries sometimes.
  • she-male. An offensive word for a transgender woman. This word should be reclaimed only by trans women. Other people shouldn’t use it.
  • singular they. A gender-neutral pronoun that has been standard English for over a thousand years. During the last two centuries, grammarians dispute whether it is good grammar, or if a different word should be used as a gender-neutral pronoun instead.
  • sissy. From «sister.» An offensive word for a feminine boy. Also, a trans-feminine sexual identity.[91]
  • SOFFA. Short for Significant Others, Friends, Family, and Allies. This means people who aren’t LGBT+, but who care about and help LGBT+ people.[1]
  • SRS. Sex Reassignment Surgery. Generally this refers to the category of procedures colloquially called bottom surgery, but might also be used for other surgeries sometimes.
  • stealth. In the transgender community, this means that a transgender person is living so that other people see them as the gender they want to be, while keeping it a secret that they are transgender.[92] Transgender women and transgender can be closeted, out, or stealth. In a culture that doesn’t recognize nonbinary genders, it is impossible to be a stealth nonbinary person, because that society has no nonbinary role to enter. In that situation, the only two options are to be closeted (you make sure nobody knows you’re nonbinary) or out (you make sure everybody knows you’re nonbinary, which isn’t stealth).
  • stone. A certain queer sexual identity. Specific kinds include stone butch and stone femme. Some see these as nonbinary genders.
  • stud. «An African-American and/or Latina masculine lesbian.»[84]
  • STP. Acronym for «stand-to-pee (device)». Designed to be used by AFAB people to allow them to urinate standing up, and thus may be of interest to transmasculine individuals. The device may resemble a cis man’s penis or it may take some other form. It may also be called by the slang term «pisser».[93]

T[edit | edit source]

  • T. In the transgender community, the hormone testosterone.
  • TG. Short for «transgender».
  • TGNB. Short for «transgender and nonbinary».
  • theyby (plural theybies). A child who is being raised without assigned gender. See the page Children for more information.
  • third gender. In anthropology, an umbrella term for ethnic non-cisgender/non-heterosexual gender roles, which may be analogous to transgender and sometimes nonbinary genders. Some consider this phrase offensive, and people should reclaim it only with caution.
  • TMA. Stands for «transmisogyny affected». Used in social justice discussions as a descriptor for people who experience transmisogyny.[94]
  • TME. Stands for «transmisogyny exempt». Used in social justice discussions as a descriptor for people who do not experience transmisogyny.[94]
  • tomboy. A girl or woman whose gender expression is masculine may be called a tomboy or may self-identify as such.
  • top surgery. In the transgender community, euphemism for any gender-validating surgery on a transgender person’s breasts/chest.
  • tranny. An offensive word for a transgender person. It was originally used against trans women.
  • trans. Short for transgender or transsexual.
  • trans*. The asterisk is meant to include both transsexual and transgender, and/or to indicate the inclusion of nonbinary identities.[95][96] Considered offensive by some trans people.[97]
  • transactivism. The movement for rights for transgender people.[84]
  • Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs). A movement of cisgender women who fight against transgender rights, because they believe that transgender people are dangerous.[98] They don’t call themselves TERFs, but they do call themselves gender critical or gender abolitionists.
  • transfeminine. A transgender person who transitions in a feminine direction, but who doesn’t necessarily identify as female. They may have a nonbinary gender identity.
  • trans-feminism, or transfeminism. The creation of this word in the late 1990s is credited to Diana Courvant and Emi Koyama.[99] A feminist movement that takes into account transgender experience and rights.

  • transgender. An umbrella term for those with gender identities that don’t match the genders they were assigned at birth.
  • transition. The process that individuals typically experiencing gender dysphoria go through to reach their desired social gender role, and/or physicality. There is no one definition of transition, as the term is based on the unique requirements of each individual.
  • trans man. The correct term for a transgender person who has a male gender identity.
  • transmasculine. A transgender person who transitions in a masculine direction, but who doesn’t necessarily identify as male. They may have a nonbinary gender identity.
  • transsexual, or transexual. A kind of transgender person who wants to physically transition to a different gender than they were assigned at birth.
  • TS. Short for transsexual.
  • tucking. A method that a person can use to hide their penis and testicles, to create a more feminine or androgynous body shape.
  • trans-misogyny. Discrimination and hate crimes against transgender women.
  • transphobia. Discrimination and hate crimes against transgender people.
  • transvestite or TV. Coined by sexologist and openly gay man Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910.[100] A clinical word for a cross-dresser. Some see «transvestite» as an offensive word, so it should be reclaimed with caution. The meaning of this word has changed a lot since it was coined. Some early sources use this word for transgender and transsexual people: «As late as 1951 many clinicians still used the term ‘transvestism’ to identify patients with profound gender pathology who requested SRS (Hertz et al., 1961).»[101]
  • trans woman. The correct term for a transgender person who has a female gender identity.
  • tri-gender or trigender. Having three different gender identities, or a mix of them, or changing between them.[15]
  • truscum. In the 2010s, a movement of transsexuals (mostly trans men) who argue that a person is only really trans if they meet the diagnostic criteria of gender dysphoria, because they see transsexuality as only a medical condition.[25] Some truscums also believe that people with nonbinary genders are pretenders who make binary trans people look ridiculous. Because this is a reclaimed slur, people who aren’t transgender shouldn’t use this word, and should instead say «trans medicalist» or «transmed» for short. Transgender people reacting to the truscum movement decided to call themselves «tucutes». Tucutes are opposed to dividing the transgender community into «true» and «fake» trans people.
  • Two-spirit. Hundreds of Native American cultures have gender roles in addition to cisgender female and cisgender male. «Two-spirit» is the agreed-upon modern English umbrella term for these gender roles.

U[edit | edit source]

  • ultergender. A proposed term describing «intersex people who identify as a gender other than their assigned gender at birth, but do not feel the term ‘transgender’ describes them»[102]

W[edit | edit source]

  • WLW. Short for «woman who loves women» (when used as singular noun)/»women who love women» (when used as plural noun). Used as an umbrella term.
  • WSW. Short for women who have sex with women. They may or may not identify as bisexual or lesbian.[16]
  • womxn. A feminist spelling of «woman» which is meant to A) avoid containing the word «men» and B) highlight the inclusion of women of color, trans women, nonbinary women, and otherwise LGBTQ+ women.[103][104] Ebony Miranda, a nonbinary feminist in Seattle, defined it as including «women and those affected by misogyny».[105] This word has received criticism for excluding queer women and women of color from the word «woman».[106]
  • womyn. A variant spelling of «woman» or «women», pronounced the same way, but without including the words «man» or «men». The term «womyn» was promulgated in lesbian journals of the 1970s, but fell out of favor in the 21st century due to becoming associated with TERFs.[107]
  • womyn-born womyn. A euphemism for «cis woman». Some groups of women use this term to highlight the biological and social experience of growing up as and living as an AFAB (assigned female at birth) person.

X[edit | edit source]

  • xe. Several sets of gender-neutral pronouns use «xe» in the nominative form.
  • xenogender. Coined by Baaphomett in 2014. «A gender that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender; more concerned with crafting other methods of gender categorization and hierarchy such as those relating to animals, plants, or other creatures/things.»[108] An umbrella term for many nonbinary gender identities defined in reference to very different ideas than female or male.

Z[edit | edit source]

  • ze. Several sets of gender-neutral pronouns use «ze» in the nominative form.

See also[edit | edit source]

  • Gender neutral language
  • List of nonbinary identities

External links[edit | edit source]

  • Susan’s Place Transgender Resources Wiki: Terms and definitions
  • Gender Neutral Pronoun FAQ.
  • J.M. Cottle, «Hallelujah, it’s raining labels.»
  • Raphael Carter, «Angel’s Dictionary.»

References[edit | edit source]

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The word ‘gender’ in English grammar has been derived from Latin ‘genus’ which means ‘kind’ or ‘sort’. Therefore, in English grammar, we use gender as a noun that denotes either the male or female sex.

English grammar has four types of gender – masculine, feminine, common, and neuter.

Masculine Gender

A noun that denotes a male is said to be of the masculine gender.

Examples of masculine gender are – boy, man, brother, father, dog, nephew, uncle, king, lion, hero, husband, son, monk, etc.

Feminine Gender

A noun that denotes a female is said to be of the feminine gender.

Examples of feminine gender in English grammar are – girl, woman, sister, mother, bitch, niece, aunt, queen, lioness, heroin, wife, daughter, nun, etc.

Common Gender

A noun that can denote both a male and a female is said to be of the Common gender.

Examples of common gender are – baby, doctor, player, neighbor, friend, parent, anchor, pupil, teacher, cousin, reporter, etc.

Neuter Gender

A noun that denotes a non-living thing is said to be of the neuter gender.

The word ‘neuter’ means ‘neither’, which is neither male nor female. Examples of neuter gender in English grammar are – pen, laptop, book, spectacles, chairs, school, bench, room, etc.

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RULES FOR FORMATION AND USAGE OF GENDER IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Mostly in English grammar, we use entirely different words for nouns with a different gender. However, still we apply certain rules while changing masculine to feminine nouns. There are four ways of forming the feminine of nouns.

Rule:1 By adding ‘-ess’ to the masculine noun

Examples of masculine to feminine gender in english grammar by addition of ess

Examples of masculine to feminine gender in English grammar by addition of ‘-ess’

Rule:2 By using an entirely different word for a feminine noun

Examples of masculine to feminine gender in english grammar by using new word

Examples of masculine to feminine gender in English grammar by using a new word

Rule:3 By replacing the main noun in a compound word

Examples of masculine to feminine gender in English grammar for a Compound Word

Examples of masculine to feminine gender in English grammar for a compound word

Rule:4 By addition or replacement of letters at the end of a masculine noun

Masculine to feminine

Examples of masculine to feminine Gender in English Grammar

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A PERSONIFICATION OF NOUNS OF NEUTER GENDER

We often personify some objects without life and speak of them as they were living beings. In other words, we regard them as males or females.

We often apply masculine gender to the neuter nouns which exhibit remarkable force, power, strength, and violence. For example – the Sun, Summer, Winter, Ocean, Time, Death, War, Thunder, Wave, Storm, etc.

Sentence examples of neuter nouns with masculine gender –

  • Ocean returns to engulf the ship of fools. It seems he has decided to kill them all.
  • Death lays his icy hand on the king.
  • Sun is scorching. It is difficult to face him without an umbrella.

On the contrary, we apply a feminine gender to the neuter nouns which exhibit beauty, gentleness, grace, fertility, prettiness, and inferiority. For example – Earth, Moon, Spring, Hope, Virtue, Truth, Justice, Pride, Mercy, Charity, Peace, Humility, Jealousy, Fame, Modesty, Liberty, Flattery, etc.

Sentence examples of neuter nouns with feminine gender –

  • The moon shed her light on rich and poor alike.
  • The earth is our mother. She takes care of us.
  • Liberty is what we all love to have. But she is evading many.
  • Spring has spread her mantle of green over the earth.

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OK, some of this shit is hilarious.  But, it’s not meant to be hilarious. This is not a Babylon Bee type article.  This is serious shit you Un-woke TBP cretins!!

Did you know there are 112 genders??? Isn’t it just amazing the lengths with which LIBTARDS will go to in order to invent entirely alternate “realities”??  These people will actually destroy their own familes, and not give it a second thought. Libtardism is truly a mental disorder. That’s not even debateable anymore. When a culture sinks so low as to deny the most basic of biological facts, and then sinks even lower by inventing new “facts” … then the end of that culture is inevitable.

1)- I have replaced one of the 112 genders with one I made up.  See if you can find it

2)- QOTD:  Which gender do YOU claim??

how many genders are there

SOURCE: dudeasks.com

Here are all of them listed alphabetically with a description:

  1. Abimegender: a gender that is profound, deep, and infinite; meant to resemble when one mirror is reflecting into another mirror creating an infinite paradox.
  2. Adamasgender: a gender that refuses to be categorized.
  3. Aerogender: a gender that is influenced by your surroundings.
  4. Aesthetigender: a gender that is derived from an aesthetic; also known as videgender.
  5. Affectugender: a gender that is affected by mood swings.
  6. Agender: the feeling of no gender/absence of gender or neutral gender.
  7. Agenderflux: being mostly agender except having small shifts towards other genders making them demigenders (because of the constancy of being agender).
  8. Alexigender: a gender that is fluid between more than one gender but the individual cannot tell what those genders are.
  9. Aliusgender: a gender that is removed from common gender descriptors and guidelines.
  10. Amaregender: a gender that changes depending on who you’re in love with.
  11. Ambigender: defined as having the feeling of two genders simultaneously without fluctuation; meant to reflect the concept of being ambidextrous, only with gender.
  12. Ambonec: identifying as both man and woman, yet neither at the same time.
  13. Amicagender: a gender that changes depending on which friend you’re with.
  14. Androgyne: sometimes used in the case of “androgynous presentation”; describes the feeling of being a mix of both masculine and feminine (and sometimes neutral) gender qualities.
  15. Anesigender: feeling like a certain gender yet being more comfortable identifying with another.
  16. Angenital: a desire to be without primary sexual characteristics, without necessarily being genderless; one may be both angenital and identify as any other gender alongside.
  17. Anogender: a gender that fades in and out but always comes back to the same feeling.
  18. Anongender: a gender that is unknown to both yourself and others.
  19. Antegender: a protean gender which has the potential to be anything, but is formless and motionless, and therefore, does not manifest as any particular gender.
  20. Anxiegender: a gender that is affected by anxiety.
  21. Apagender: a feeling of apathy towards one’s gender which leads to them not looking any further into it.
  22. Apconsugender: a gender where you know what it isn’t, but not what it is; the gender is hiding itself from you.
  23. Astergender: a gender that feels bright and celestial.
  24. Astralgender: a gender that feels connected to space.
  25. Autigender: a gender that can only be understood in the context of being autistic (POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING).
  26. Autogender: a gender experience that is deeply personal to oneself.
  27. Axigender: when a person experiences two genders that sit on opposite ends of an axis; one being agender and the other being any other gender; these genders are experienced one at a time with no overlapping and with very short transition time.
  28. Bigender: the feeling of having two genders either at the same time or separately; usually used to describe feeling “traditionally male” and “traditionally female”, but does not have to.
  29. Biogender: a gender that feels connected to nature in some way.
  30. Blurgender: the feeling of having more than one gender that are somehow blurred together to the point of not being able to distinguish or identify individual genders; synonymous with genderfuzz.
  31. Boyflux: when one feels mostly or all male most of the time but experience fluctuating intensity of male identity.
  32. Burstgender: and gender that comes in intense bursts of feeling and quickly fades back to the original state.
  33. Caelgender: a gender that shares qualities with outer space or has the aesthetic of space, stars, nebulas, etc.
  34. Cassgender: the feeling of gender is unimportant to you.
  35. Cassflux: when the level of indifference towards your gender fluctuates.
  36. Cavusgender: for people with depression; when you feel one gender when not depressed and another when depressed.
  37. Cendgender: when your gender changes between one and its opposite.
  38. Ceterofluid: when you are ceterogender and your feelings fluctuate between masculine, feminine, and neutral.
  39. Ceterogender: a nonbinary gender with specific masculine, feminine, or neutral feelings.
  40. Cisgender: the feeling of being the gender you were assigned at birth, all the time (assigned (fe)male/feeling (fe)male).
  41. Cloudgender: a gender that cannot be fully realized or seen clearly due to depersonalization/derealization disorder.
  42. Collgender: the feeling of having too many genders simultaneously to describe each one.
  43. Colorgender: a gender associated with one or more colors and the feelings, hues, emotions, and/or objects associated with that color; may be used like pinkgender, bluegender, yellowgender.
  44. Commogender: when you know you aren’t cisgender, but you settled with your assigned gender for the time being.
  45. Condigender: a gender that is only felt during certain circumstances.
  46. Deliciagender: from the Latin word Delicia meaning “favorite”, meaning the feeling of having more than one simultaneous gender yet preferring one that fits better.
  47. Demifluid: the feeling your gender being fluid throughout all the demigenders; the feeling of having multiple genders, some static and some fluid.
  48. Demiflux: the feeling of having multiple genders, some static and some fluctuating.
  49. DiDoDi: a gender that gives fellatio to jackasses but only if said “member” attached to the jackass is diseased
  50. Domgender: having more than one gender yet one being more dominant than the others.
  51. Duragender: from the Latin word dura meaning “long-lasting”, meaning a subcategory of multigender in which one gender is more identifiable, long-lasting, and prominent than the other genders.
  52. Egogender: a gender that is so personal to your experience that it can only be described as “you”.
  53. Epicene: sometimes used synonymously with the adjective “androgynous”; the feeling of either having or not displaying characteristics of both or either binary gender; sometimes used to describe feminine male-identifying individuals.
  54. Espigender: a gender that is related to being a spirit or exists on a higher or extradimensional plane.
  55. Exgender: the outright refusal to accept or identify in, on, or around the gender spectrum.
  56. Existigender: a gender that only exists or feels present when thought about or when a conscious effort is made to notice it.
  57. Femfluid: having fluctuating or fluid gender feelings that are limited to feminine genders.
  58. Femgender: a nonbinary gender which is feminine in nature.
  59. Fluidflux: the feeling of being fluid between two or more genders that also fluctuate in intensity; a combination of genderfluid and genderflux.
  60. Gemigender: having two opposite genders that work together, being fluid and flux together.
  61. Genderblank: a gender that can only be described as a blank space; when gender is called into question, all that comes to mind is a blank space.
  62. Genderflow: a gender that is fluid between infinite feelings.
  63. Genderfluid: the feeling of fluidity within your gender identity; feeling a different gender as time passes or as situations change; not restricted to any number of genders.
  64. Genderflux: the feeling of your gender fluctuating in intensity; like genderfluid but between one gender and agender.
  65. Genderfuzz: coined by lolzmelmel; the feeling of having more than one gender that are somehow blurred together to the point of not being able to distinguish or identify individual genders; synonymous with blurgender.
  66. Gender Neutral: the feeling of having a neutral gender, whether somewhere in between masculine and feminine or a third gender that is separate from the binary; often paired with neutrois.
  67. Genderpunk: a gender identity that actively resists gender norms.
  68. Genderqueer: originally used as an umbrella term for nonbinary individuals; it may be used as an identity; it describes a nonbinary gender regardless of whether the individual is masculine or feminine leaning.
  69. Genderwitched: a gender in which one is intrigued or entranced by the idea of a particular gender, but is not certain that they are actually feeling it.
  70. Girlflux: when one feels mostly or all female most of the time but experiences fluctuating intensities of female identity.
  71. Glassgender: a gender that is very sensitive and fragile.
  72. Glimragender: a faintly shining, wavering gender.
  73. Greygender: having a gender that is mostly outside of the binary but is weak and can barely be felt.
  74. Gyragender: having multiple genders but understanding none of them.
  75. Healgender: a gender that once realized, brings lots of peace, clarity, security, and creativity to the individual’s mind.
  76. Heliogender: a gender that is warm and burning.
  77. Hemigender: a gender that is half one gender and half something else; one or both halves may be identifiable genders.
  78. Horogender: a gender that changes over time with the core feeling of remaining the same.
  79. Hydrogender: a gender that shares qualities with water.
  80. Imperigender: a fluid gender that can be controlled by the individual.
  81. Intergender: the feeling of gender falling somewhere on the spectrum between masculine and feminine; note: do not confuse with intersex.
  82. Juxera:a feminine gender similar to girl, but on a separate plane and off to itself.
  83. Libragender: a gender that feels agender but has a strong connection to another gender.
  84. Magigender: a gender that is mostly gender and the rest is something else.
  85. Mascfluid: A gender that is fluid in nature, and restricted only to masculine genders.
  86. Mascgender: a non-binary gender which is masculine in nature.
  87. Maverique: taken from the word maverick; the feeling of having a gender that is separate from masculinity, femininity, and neutrality, but is not agender; a form of a third gender.
  88. Mirrorgender: a gender that changes to fit the people around you.
  89. Molligender: a gender that is soft, subtle, and subdued.
  90. Multigender: the feeling of having more than one simultaneous or fluctuating gender; simultaneous with multigender and omnigender.
  91. Nanogender: feeling a small part of one gender with the rest being something else.
  92. Neutrois: the feeling of having a neutral gender; sometimes a lack of gender that leads to feeling neutral.
  93. Nonbinary: originally an umbrella term for any gender outside the binary of cisgenders; may be used as an individual identity; occasionally used alongside of genderqueer.
  94. Omnigender: the feeling of having more than one simultaneous or fluctuating gender; simultaneous with multigender and polygender.
  95. Oneirogender: coined by anonymous, “being agender, but having recurring fantasies or daydreams of being a certain gender without the dysphoria or desire to actually be that gender day-to-day”.
  96. Pangender: the feeling of having every gender; this is considered problematic by some communities and thus has been used as the concept of relating in some way to all genders as opposed to containing every gender identity; only applies to genders within one’s own culture.
  97. Paragender: the feeling very near one gender and partially something else which keeps you from feeling fully that gender.
  98. Perigender: identifying with gender but not as a gender.
  99. Polygender: the feeling of having more than one simultaneous or fluctuating gender; simultaneous with multigender and omnigender.
  100. Proxvir: a masculine gender similar to a boy, but on a separate plane and off to itself.
  101. Quoigender: feeling as if the concept of gender is inapplicable or nonsensical to one’s self.
  102. Subgender: mostly a gender with a bit of another gender.
  103. Surgender: having a gender that is 100% one gender but with more of another gender added on top of that.
  104. Systemgender: a gender that is the sum of all the genders within a multiple or median system.
  105. Tragender: a gender that stretches over the whole spectrum of genders.
  106. Transgender: any gender identity that transcends or does not align with your assigned gender or society’s idea of gender; the feeling of being any gender that does not match your assigned gender.
  107. Trigender: the feeling of having three simultaneous or fluctuating genders.
  108. Vapogender: a gender that sort of feels like smoke; it can be seen on a shallow level but once you go deeper, it disappears and you are left with no gender and only tiny wisps of what you thought it was.
  109. Venngender: when two genders overlap creating an entirely new gender; like a Venn diagram.
  110. Verangender: a gender that seems to shift/change the moment it is identified.
  111. Vibragender: a gender that is usually one stable gender but will occasionally change or fluctuate before stabilizing again.
  112. Vocigender: a gender that is weak or hollow

========================================

However, this list is non-exhaustive, because Tumblr further says that: “All types of attractions may be used as suffixes along with ‘-fluid’ and ‘-flux’”. Feel free to mix and match your own prefixes and suffixes to create the orientation that best describes you.

  1. A- : lack of attraction
  2. Abro- : having an orientation or feelings about it that constantly change and cannot be pinned down for this reason
  3. Aceflux: similar to genderflux where the intensity of sexual attraction you feel fluctuates; asexual to demisexual to allosexual and back
  4. Aego- : feeling attraction or desire only for situations that does not involve oneself; previously known as autochoris-
  5. Akoi- : the feeling of attraction but not wanting it reciprocated or losing it when it is reciprocated; used as an alternative and potentially less problematic form of lithosexual/lithromantic
  6. Aliqua- : not normally feeling attraction, but feeling it on occasion under specific circumstances
  7. Amicus- : when you’re attracted to people you’re platonically attracted to
  8. Amorplatonic: experiencing romantic attraction but only wanting to be in queerplatonic/quasiplatonic relationships
  9. Apothi- : being aromantic/asexual and not experiencing any romantic/sexual feelings in any shape or form; aromantic/asexual individuals who are romance/sex repulsed
  10. Aromantic: feeling no romantic attraction regardless of gender or situation
  11. Aroflux: similar to genderflux where the intensity or romantic attraction you feel fluctuates; aromantic to demiromantic to alloromantic and back
  12. Arospike/Acespike: feeling no attraction except in occasional bursts of intense attraction and then plummeting back to no attraction
  13. Asexual: feeling no sexual attraction regardless of gender or situation
  14. Auto- : the feeling of attraction only towards oneself
  15. Bellusromantic: having interest in conventionally romantic things yet not desiring a relationship; part of the aro spectrum
  16. Bi- : the feeling of attraction towards two or more genders, generally your own gender and other(s)
  17. Borea- : having an exception to your usual orientation
  18. Burst- : having spikes in attraction that fade away after a while
  19. Cass- : feeling utterly indifferent towards attraction and believing its not important
  20. Cease- : usually beeing allo- yet occasionally feeling a sudden loss of attraction and then returning to normal
  21. Cetero- : the feeling of attraction towards nonbinary people; replaces skolio- because “skolio” means bent or broken and implies that nonbinary people must be fixed; this is reserved for trans/nonbinary individuals because cis people were judging nonbinary people based off of presentation alone
  22. Culparomantic: feeling romantic and platonic attraction at the same time
  23. Cupio- : the feeling of having no attraction towards any gender yet still desiring a sexual or romantic relationship
  24. Demi- : not feeling attraction towards someone until a certain closeness or bond has been formed
  25. Desinoromantic: when one does not experience full-on romantic attraction, but experiences “liking” someone instead of loving them romantically, at which point the attraction goes no further
  26. Duo- : having two or more well defined orientations that you switch between
  27. Ficto- : only felling a certain type of attraction towards fictional characters
  28. Fin- : feeling attraction to fem(me) identifying people
  29. Fray- : only experiencing attraction towards those you are less familiar with; the feeling is lost when they become closer or more familiar; the opposite of demi-
  30. Grey- : the feeling of usually not having any attraction except occasionally depending on the situation; typically paired with asexual and aromantic
  31. Heteroflexible: the feeling of having mostly hetero- attraction yet having an openness for other genders
  32. Hetero- : the feeling of being attracted to a gender other than your own
  33. Homoflexible: the feeling of having mostly homo- attraction yet having an openness for other genders
  34. Homo- : the feeling of being attracted to your own gender
  35. Iculasexual: being asexual but open to having sex
  36. Idemromantic: being able to categorize others as having either a platonic or romantic attraction based on outside factors yet feeling no difference in the type of attraction
  37. Kalossexual: the desire to have a sexual relationship yet never feeling sexual attraction; part of the ace spectrum
  38. Lamvano- : feeling no desire to do sexual/romantic things to someone, but wanting to be on the receiving end; opposite of placio-
  39. Lesbian: someone who identifies fully or partially as a woman who is attracted to other fully or partially identified women
  40. Limno- : experiencing attraction towards depictions of attraction (writing or drawings) but not the physical acts
  41. Ma- : feeling attraction to men
  42. Min- : feeling attraction to masculine identifying people
  43. Multi- : attraction to more than one gender
  44. Neu- : feeling attraction towards people who are genderless
  45. Nin- : feeling attraction towards androgynous identifying people
  46. Nocisma- : feeling attraction to everyone except cis men because of associated oppression
  47. Noma- : experiencing attraction to every gender except for self identifying men
  48. Novi- : feeling complicated attraction or lack thereof in such a way that it is difficult or impossible to fit into one word or term
  49. Novo- : when one’s orientation changes with gender
  50. Nowo- : experiencing attraction to every gender except for self identifying women
  51. Omni- : the feeling of a lack of preference in gender and may be attracted to all genders equally; similar to pan-
  52. Pan- : the feeling of attraction towards any gender or all genders; similar to omni-
  53. Penulti- : feeling attraction towards every gender except your own
  54. Platoniromantic: feeling no difference between platonic and romantic attraction
  55. Polar- : feeling either extreme attraction or intense repulsion
  56. Poly- : the feeling of attraction towards most or several genders (but not all)
  57. Pomo- : the feeling of having no orientation
  58. Pre- : a placeholder term for someone who doesn’t think they’ve experienced enough attraction to know their orientation
  59. Proqua- : feeling attracted to feminine people when you yourself are feminine
  60. Proquu- : feeling attracted to masculine people when you yourself are masculine
  61. Queer: the feeling of not being hetero- yet not wanting to further identify with any conventional sexuality
  62. Quoiromantic: from the French word quoi meaning “what”; the feeling of not being able to distinguish romantic from platonic attraction and therefore being unsure if one has experienced it; used to replace wtfromantic because of vulgarity
  63. Recip- : the feeling of only experiencing attraction once someone else has experienced it towards them first
  64. Requies- : not feeling attraction when emotionally exhausted
  65. Sans- : when there’s no trend line in the attraction one feels, it just does what it does
  66. Sensu- : an orientation that is based off of sensuality as opposed to romance, sexuality, etc; different from sensual orientation; when romantic or sexual type pleasure is derived from sensual acts or situations
  67. Skolio- : the feeling of attraction towards nonbinary genders; replaced by cetero- because of problematic wording
  68. Specio- : feeling attraction towards someone based off of specific traits, not gender
  69. Thym- : feeling attraction which varies depending on emotional state
  70. Volit- : feeling attraction that is not directed at anyone in particular.
  71. Woma- : feeling attraction to women.

THE END

This page is a List Of Genders! It is a mostly alphabetical list of some of the genders on this wiki, along with a link to their pages and a short description of each gender.

(Visit our gender identities category page for a more currently complete list of genders).

Notes for contributors who would like to add genders to this page:

  • Don’t worry about listing each gender in a perfectly alphabetical format; listing the gender under the same letter it begins with is enough.
  • List each gender with it’s main/official name hyperlinked to it’s page, and a short description. (Nothing else)
  • Each gender listed must already have a page on this wiki.
  • Please keep each description limited to one, easy to read and understand, sentence.
  • If a gender is exclusive to certain groups of people, said group should be stated. (This bypasses the one-sentence guideline)

(This page is protected from edits by users who are not autoconfirmed, to prevent potential vandalism)

A

  • Abimegender: A gender that is profound, deep, and infinite.
  • Abinary: Genders completely unrelated to the gender binary.
  • Acegender: Orientationgender that covers genders related to asexuality.
  • Aesthetigenders: Contains qualities of an aesthetic or sensory experience.
  • Aftgender: Being aligned with the pronouns you were assigned at birth but wanting to change your sex.
  • Agender: Feeling of having no gender.
  • Aic: Xenogender that feels ‘short’ or ‘small.’
  • Androgyne: Genders related to being a combination of male and female.
  • Apogender: Feeling entirely removed from the concept of gender.
  • Azurgirl: A masculine-aligned girl/woman.

B

  • Backroomic: Gender related to the backrooms
  • Binary: Genders that are in relation to male or female.
  • Bigender: Experiencing two gender identities.
  • Bigenderfluid: Being fluid between two gender identities.
  • Bigenderfluix: Experiencing two gender identities that are both fluid and fluctuating in intensity.
  • Bigenderflux: Experiencing two genders that fluctuate in intensity.
  • Boyflip: When one flips between being a boy and being another gender(s).
  • B♡y: Boy connected to love.

C

  • Cakegender: Xenogenders that are related to cakes.
  • Cassgender: Feeling that gender is unimportant or indifferent from the idea of gender.
  • Cluttergender: When one feels cluttered with many genders.
  • Cluwellous: Gender related to fluffy clouds and pastel colors.
  • Condigender: A gender that is only felt under specific circumstances.
  • Cookiegender: Xenogenders that are related to cookies.

D

  • Dazefluid: A fluid gender that feels foggy and unclear.
  • Demiagender: Being partially agender and partially another gender.
  • Demiagenderflux: Being demiagender, agenderflux, and librafluid.
  • Demigender: Being partially one gender(s) and partially another gender(s).
  • Demiandrogye: Partially relating to being androgyne.
  • Demi-bigender: Being two demigender simultaneously.
  • Demiboy: Being partially male and partially another gender(s).
  • Demicass: Being partially cassgender and partially another gender.
  • Demienbyflux: Being partially deminonbinary with fluctuating intensity, and partially another gender.
  • Demifemme: Being partially demigirl and partially a fingender.
  • Demifluid: Having a static gender and a fluid gender.
  • Demigirlflux: Fluctuating between demigirl and agender.
  • Demigirl: Being partially female and partially another gender(s).
  • Drinkgender: Covers gastrogenders related to beverages.
  • Demimin: Being partially mingender and partially a non-binary identity.
  • Demineutrois: Being partially neutrois and partially another gender(s).

E

  • Endogender: A gender that is fluid or fluctuating, but is always at least somewhat related to a given gender(s).
  • Errgender: When one’s gender has strayed, and one can’t quite get ahold of it.

F

  • Faunagender: Genders related to animals.
  • Fingenders: Genders that are feminine in nature.
  • Fluidqueer: When one’s gender is queer and fluid.
  • Foodgender: Gastrogenders that are related to food.
  • Froggender: Gender related to frogs.
  • Fruitgender: Genders related to fruit.
  • Fluidflux: Genderfluid that fluctuates in intensity.
  • Fluidqueer: Gender is described as queer and genderfluid.
  • Fiaspec: Being on the female end of the viabinary system.
  • Femme: Genders that are feminine in nature.
  • Foggender: Gender cannot be identified due to brainfog.
  • Flowergender: Gender is related to flowers.
  • Fluidexpan-gender: Pangender, with dominate gender that is fluid or absent.
  • Flugenistatic: Fluid gender and static alignment.
  • Fractalgender: Gender is infinitely complex.
  • Fluxstatic: Combination of fluctuating and static genders.

G

  • Galasterios: Gender related to coziness, stars, and space.
  • Gastrogender: Covers xenogenders related to food or drinks.
  • Genderbi: Covers genders related to bisexuality.
  • Genderbroken: Felling as if your gender could be easily shattered or broken.
  • Genderfae: Genderfluiditiy that never encompasses and masculine-aligned genders.
  • Genderfaer: Genderfluid that never encompasses being fully masculine.
  • Genderfaun: Genderfluidity that never encompasses woman-aligned genders.
  • Genderfaunet: Genderfluid that never encompasses being fully female.
  • Genderflip: When one flips between multiple genders.
  • Genderfluid: Gender that changes over time.
  • Genderflux: Gender that varies in intensity over time.
  • Genderfruct: Being fluid between all genders.
  • Genderlost: Gender that feels lost or missing.
  • Genderpan: Covers genders related to pansexuality.
  • Gendervoid: Feeling nothing where gender should be.
  • Girlflip: When one flips between being a girl and being another gender(s).
  • G♡rl: Girl connected to love.

H

  • Hemigender: Demigender that is 50% one gender and 50% another.
  • Hemiboy: 50% male and 50% another gender(s).
  • Hemigirl: 50% female and 50% another gender(s).
  • Heminonbinary: 50% non-binary and 50% another gender(s).
  • Hemigenderflux: Fluctuate between 0% and 50% of a gender(s).
  • Heminonbinaryflux: Fluctuate between 0% and 50% non-binary.
  • Hemigirlflux: Fluctuate between 0% and 50% of a fingender.
  • Hemiboyflux: Fluctuate between 0% and 50% of a mingender.
  • Hydrangeaflux: Static miaspec genders, mingenders, and unaligned genders.
  • Hypergender: Being more than 100% of a gender.
  • Hyperfluid: Gender chances constantly and rapidly.
  • Heartcookiegender: Gender connected to heart-shaped cookies.
  • Hazyfluid: Genderfluid that does not know where to flow.
  • Heliogender: Gender connected to warmth and intense sensation of gender/genderlessness.
  • Highempatix: Gender connected to one’s high empathy. (Exclusive to neurodivergent people)
  • Hezegender: Genderfluid that always has an overlay of agender.
  • Hotcocaic: Gender related to hot coca.
  • Hotpinkboy: Gender relates to the color hot pink and being a boy.
  • Hexagender: Experiencing exactly six genders.
  • Intergender: Dyadic and/or intersex people who are between male and female.
  • Illusogender: Gender feels ‘fake.’
  • Intrafeminflux: Feminine and experiencing masculine or non-binary identities.
  • Intramascflux: Masculine and experiencing feminine or non-binary identities.

J

  • Jokegender: Gender related to funniness, drama, and/or tragedy and comedy.
  • Juxera: Close to female but not quite.

K

  • Kidcoric: Gender related to kidcore.
  • Kingender: Gender is related to or affected by kintype.

L

  • Lexegender: Genders that can only be described using a word.
  • Lexicgender: Associating gender with words/letters.
  • Libragender: Being mostly agender and partially another gender.
  • Linumgender: A genderfluid man.
  • Lucidic: Gender connected to lucid dreams

M

  • Magicia: Gender connected to unusual preception of magic.
  • Mashgender: Genders feels mashed together.
  • Mekangender: Soft masculinity.
  • Mingenders: Genders that are masculine in nature.
  • Multigender: Experiencing more than one gender.
  • Mythologender: Genders influenced by mythology.
  • Medzfluid: Gender is related to not taking medication.

N

  • Neoboy: Being a man outside of the gender binary.
  • Neogirl: Being a woman outside of the gender binary.
  • Nesciogender: When one’s neurotype affects how clearly they understand their gender.
  • Neurogender: Genders related to or affected by one’s neurotype.
  • Neugender: Non-binary genders that are expressed as binary.
  • Nonbinaryflux: Non-binary with fluctuating intensity.
  • Nonvirmina: When one feels connected to both masculinity and femininity but is not a man or woman.
  • Non-binary: Genders that are not binary.

O

  • Offgender: Being very close to a gender, but not quite.
  • Omnixeno: Experiencing all xenogenders simultaneously.
  • Orientationgender: Genders related to sexual/romantic orientation.

P

  • Pangender: Being all genders.
  • Paragender: Being close to a gender, but cannot fully be that gender.
  • Paragirlflux: Fluctuate between paragirl and agender.
  • Parifluid: Fluid between mingenders, findgenders, genderlessness, or neutral genders.
  • Presentisian: When one’s gender becomes their current gender presentation.
  • Paraflux: ‘Main’ genders and ‘minor’ genders fluctuate.
  • Parafluid: Paragender that is close to genderfluid.
  • Proxvir: Close to male but not quite.
  • Pupgender: Gender related to dogs/puppies.
  • Polygender: Having more than one gender.
  • Polyflux: At least two genders that fluctuate in intensity.
  • Puzzlegender: Gender is or needs to be pieced together.
  • Pichugender: Gender is small/fuzzy with electric charge, or is related to the Pokémon Pikachu.
  • Prettygender: Gender is related to pretty things.
  • Pumpkinspice Gender: Gender is related to pumpkin spice.
  • Phytogender: Kingender related to being plantfolk. (Exclusive to phytanthropes)
  • Polkgender: Gender feels incomplete, or as if parts of one’s body are fading away.
  • Peachgender: Gender related to peaches.
  • Pompomgender: Gender related to Sanrio character Pompompurin.
  • Pastromic: Gender related to the smell of freshly baked goods.
  • Pinksugarcookiera: Gender related to pink icing, sprinkles, and sweet/cute femininity of sugar cookies.

Q

  • Quadgender: Experiencing four gender identities.
  • Qouigender: Not understanding or wanting to define gender.
  • Quintgender: Experiencing five gender identities.

R

  • Rahugender: Gender related to people one seeks to be like.
  • Retrofluid: Gender is fluid between the retro era’s.
  • Rosboy: A feminine-aligned boy/man.
  • Reflective gender: Gender changes upon day-to-day situations or the people one is around.
  • Rhombusgender: Being comfortable with shape-related identities.

S

  • Seasogender: A gender connected to one of the four seasons.
  • Solarset: A gender that is mostly neutral with strong connections to masculinity.
  • Sortafluid: Sort of genderfluid but not quite.
  • Sortagender: When you sort of identify with a gender but not quite.
  • Sortaboy: Sort of a boy, but not quite.
  • Sortagirl: Sort of a girl, but not quite.
  • Souryaic: Gender related to sour candies.
  • Stratogender: Gender that has multiple layers.
  • Sungender: Gender is warm, summery, and happy.
  • Starwashic: Gender feels like stars washing up on a beach.

T

  • Transgender: Not identifying as sex assigned at birth.
  • Transmasculine: Transgender people who’s masculinity outweighs femininity.
  • Transfeminine: Transgender people who’s femininity outweighs masculinity.
  • Transneutral: Transgender people who are neutral or unaligned.
  • Tomboy: Feminine-aligned people who present traditionally masculine.
  • Tomgirl: Masculine-aligned people who present traditionally feminine.
  • Two-Spirit: Experiencing mixed gender roles. (Exclusive to Indigenous North Americans)
  • Tetrisgender: Gender builds over time, and disappears when complete.
  • Trigender: Experiencing three gender identities.
  • Triflux: Three genders that fluctuate in intensity.
  • Trans-intersex: Intersex people who are transgender.
  • Traumatagender: Gender originates from intense trauma.
  • Triquiboy: Demiboy with an infinitely intricate gender.
  • Turbogender: Gender cannot be defined due to its intricacy.

U

  • Unambiguous: Absolute certainty of gender.

V

  • Vastgender: Single gender made up of many genders.
  • Vapogender: Gender resembles smoke.
  • Venufluid: Fluid between fingenders, rarely fluid between mingenders or unaligned genders.
  • Virilflux: Mingender fluctuates in intensity.
  • Vosgender: Gender shifts to match the gender of those around one.

W

  • Wistrafluid: Fluid between mingenders.

X

  • Xenogender: Genders that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender.
  • Xoragender: Gender connected to femininity + grass, water, or both.
  • Xenoflora: Gender can be described as an environmental aspect.
  • Xenofluid: Fluid between xenogenders.
  • Xiaspec: Anyone on the xeno side of exobinary spectrum.
  • X-gender: One is neither male or female. (Japanese exclusive term)

Y

  • Yippegender: Gender connected to video games, due to neurodivergency.
  • Yamcropic: Gender related to yam crop from Stardew Valley.

Z

  • Zodiacgender: Xenogenders related to zodiac signs.
  • Zoogender: Gender related to nature/wildlife.
  • Zertexios: Gender is ghostly, and a mix of feminine and neutrois.

a diverse crowd of people

Examples of genders include male, female, transgender, cisgender, and gender non-conforming.

We live in a world where gender identity is increasingly considered a cultural construct and fluid concept.

And in fact, if we move beyond a eurocentric view of gender, cultural ideas about diversity of genders has existed across cultures for as long as humans have existed. From two-spirit people in Native America to Whakawahine in Maori culture, multiple gender constructs span the ages.

Below is an A to Z list of genders and words to describe gender identity.

Note: This article is not a presentation of my personal or political viewpoint. In sociology courses, we present multiple perspectives on social issues and have our students think critically about them – social constructionism is one sociological perspective among many that are presented to students in order for them to engage in critical debate and discussion. For example, in class, we also discuss the functionalist perspective that challenges the social constructivist perspectives found in this article.

How Many Genders Are There?

There are at least 80 ways to describe gender. That’s not to say there are 80 different genders, but there are at least 80 different cultural terms to describe gender constructs.

The list below is a collection of terms to refer to different gender identifications, but it is not a comprehensive list. More could be added from various other cultures around the world.

Types of Genders from Around the World

1. Acault (Myanmar)

Acault is a gender from Buddhist people of Myanmar. It describes people who are AMAB (assigned male at birth) who have been possessed by a female spirit god named Manguedon who has imparted femininity on them. Acaults are often seen as wise shamans and seers.

2. AFAB

AFAB stand for ‘assigned female at birth’. It is a gender identity often assigned to people if there is for any reason a need to know a person’s birth gender, especially if that person no longer associates with that gender. It acknowledges that birth genders are assigned through cultural inscription.

3. Agender

Agendered people do not have a gender. They are considered genderless or genderfree and do not fit on a masculine-feminine spectrum.

4. Aliagender

Aliagendered people are neither male, female, or agendered. They are people who experience a gender identity that does not fit on the masculine-feminine spectrum but nonetheless feel a gendered identity.

5. Alyha and Hwame (Mohave)

The Mohave people of the southwestern United States have two non-cis genders, alyha and hwame. Alyha are male-assigned people who dress and behave like women. Hwame are female-assigned people who dress and behave like men. Both alyha and hwame take on traditionally non-gendered roles. They are also both seen as having special spiritual powers.

Related Article: 17 Examples of Gender Stereotypes

6. AMAB

AMAB stands for ‘assigned male at birth’. Like AFAB, it is a gender identity often assigned to people if there is for any reason a need to know a person’s birth gender, especially if that person no longer associates with that gender. It acknowledges that birth genders are assigned through cultural inscription.

7. Androgynous

An androgynous person is neither male or female. Their identity is considered ambiguous. Often, androgynes express elements of both masculine and feminine identities at different times.

8. Aporagender

Aporagender people are those who do not identify with any specific gender. They may feel that they have no gender, or that their gender is undefined. This can be due to a variety of reasons, such as feeling like one does not fit into any existing gender categories, or feeling like all existing gender categories are equally valid and none stand out as feeling more ‘right’ than the others.

9. Aravani (India)

The aravani are people from Tamil Nadu, a state in the south of India. They are people who display femininity in a masculne body, but often go through physical transformations so their bodies match their genders.

10. Ashtime (Maale, Ethiopia)

The Ashtime gender from the Maale culture of Ethiopia is a third gender that is considered to be neither male nor female. Ashtime people are seen as having special spiritual powers and as being more in tune with the natural world than other people. They often take on traditional roles such as healers, storytellers, and shamans. They were generally assigned male at birth.

11. Burrnesha (Albania)

The Burrnesha gender from Albanian culture who have taken a vow of celibacy in order to live as men. Burrneshas dress and behave like men, take on male roles such as being the head of the household, and often take a wife. They are considered to be more spiritual than other people and are seen as having special powers.

12. Bakla

Bakla are people from the Philippines who are effeminate biological men who dress and behave in ways traditionally associated with women. They are often seen as a third gender, distinct from men and women.

Related Article: Types of Stereotypes

13. Bigender

Bigender people experience two genders, either simultaneously or at different times. These genders can be any combination of male, female, agender, etc.

14. Calabai, Calalai, and Bissu (Indonesia)

Calalai are people who are seen as being born female but take on a masculine role, while Bissu are considered to be neither male nor female. Both Calabai and Calalai may undergo surgery to remove their breasts (called ‘top surgery’), while Bissu often wear both traditional masculine and feminine clothing.

15. Chuckchi Ne’uchika Shamans (Siberia)

The Chuckchi ne’uchika shamans are assigned male at birth but are believed to have been ordered by a spirit to undergo a gender transformation. They often marry males from the tribe and take on both traditionally male and female roles within the tribe.

16. Cisgender

A cisgendered person is a person who identifies with the same gender as the gender with which they were assigned at birth.

17. Cis Female

A cis female is a female who was assigned the female gender at birth and continues to identify with that gender identity.

18. Cis Male

A cis male is a male who was assigned the male gender at birth and continues to identify with that gender identity.

19. Demiboy

A demiboy is a person who identifies as partially male. They may feel that they are neither fully male nor fully female, or that they are a mix of both genders. Demiboys may or may not undergo hormone therapy or surgery to change their bodies to match their gender identity.

20. Demigender

Demigender people are those who identify as partially male or female. They may feel that they are neither fully male nor fully female, or that they are a mix of both genders.

21. Demigirl

A demigirl is a person who identifies as partially female. They may feel that they are neither fully male nor fully female, or that they are a mix of both genders. Demigirls may or may not undergo hormone therapy or surgery to change their bodies to match their gender identity.

22. Fa’afafine

Fa’afafine are a third gender in Samoan and Tongan culture. Fa’afafine are born male but identify as female and take on typically female gender roles in society. They play an important role in Samoan families and communities, and their visibility challenges traditional Western notions of gender and sexuality.

23. Fakaleiti

Fakaleiti are a third gender in traditional Polynesian societies. They are biological males who dress and behave in a feminine manner. Fakaleitis often occupy positions of respect and play an important role in Polynesian cultures, serving as healers, seers, mediators, and caretakers. In recent years, the fakaleiti identity has been adopted by many LGBTQ+ people in Polynesia as a way to express their gender and sexuality.

Related Article: 50 Examples of Ethnicities

24. Female

The traditional or conservative definition of “female” is a person who is biologically born with ovaries and typically has the capacity to produce eggs. Increasingly, we are defining a female as a person who identifies as a woman, regardless of their biological sex. This is because we’re moving toward separating the concepts of biological sex and culturally-defined genders.

25. Femme

Femme is a term used to describe a person who identifies as a woman, and/or expresses themselves in a feminine way. Femme can be used as a noun, adjective, or verb. It is often used in the LGBTQIA+ community to describe a lesbian whose comportment is traditionally feminine.

26. Femminiello (Italy)

The femminiello are a third gender from Italy. They are assigned male at birth but typically dress and behave like women. Femminiellos are often seen as lucky charms and are believed to have special powers, such as the ability to ward off evil spirits.

27. Guevedoche (Dominican Republic)

Guevedoche translates to “penis at twelve”. There is an ethnic group in remote areas of the Dominican Republic who, through genetic developments, can give birth to children who are born looking like girls but grow male genetalia around age 12. This often leads to gender questioning and gender fluidity as the children age.

28. Femminiello

In southern Italy, there exists a type of male shaman-like figure called a femminiello. Femminielli are sometimes considered to be cross-dressers, androgynous, or even transgender, although most femminielli see themselves as a distinct third gender.

29. FTM

FTM is a term used to describe a person who was assigned the female gender at birth but identifies as a man. This acronym stands for ‘female-to-male.’

30. Gender Apathetic

A person who is gender apathetic is someone who does not strongly lean towards identifying with one gender or another. Furthermore, they are often apathetic (or non-commital) about their attraction to one specific gender, meaning they are often bisexual.

31. Gender Fluid

A person who is gender fluid may fluctuate between genders, or they may feel like they are a mix of both genders. In one context, they may identify more strongly as male, but in another context, they may identify more as a female. It is often very much context dependant and may change over time. This is different from being bisexual because gender fluidity is about gender identity, not sexual orientation.

32. Gender Neutral

A person who is gender-neutral does not identify as either a man or woman. They may have a non-binary gender identity, or they may simply not identify with any gender, and reject the dualistic thinking of the male-female binary.

33. Gender Nonconforming

A person who is gender non-conforming does not identify with the traditional gender roles assigned to their biological sex. They may

34. Gender Questioning

A person who is gender questioning is someone who is exploring and questioning their own gender identity. This may be a person who is unsure if they are transgender, or it may be a cisgender person who is curious about what it would be like to experience life as the opposite gender.

35. Gender Variant

A gender variant person is someone whose gender expression does not conform to traditional ideas about how men and women are supposed to look and behave. This could be a person who simply expresses their gender in a creative or non-traditional way.

36. Genderqueer

Genderqueer is a term that describes people with non-binary gender identities. Genderqueer people may identify as neither male nor female, or they may identify as a mix of both genders. They may also use gender-neutral pronouns such as them/they, ze/hir, or xe/xem.

37. Hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite is an outdated and now generally disavowed term used to describe people who are intersex. Generally, this term is now strongly discouraged and often used to offend intersex people. The term intersex is now more acceptable.

38. Hijra (Kinnar)

A hijra is a person from South Asia who may be born with male genitalia but identifies as female. Hijras are sometimes considered to be a third gender, and they have a long history in many South Asian cultures such as Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. In 2013, the government of Bangladesh officially recognized hijra as a gender.

39. Intergender

Intergender is a term used to describe people who have both male and female characteristics, or who fall somewhere in between the two genders. Intergender people may identify as neither male nor female, or they may identify as a mix of both genders.

40. Intersex

The term intersex describes people who are born with genitals or other sex characteristics that do not conform to normative definitions of ‘male’ or ‘female.’ Intersex people may choose to identify as male, female, or non-binary.

41. Kathoey

A kathoey is a person from Thailand who may be born with male genitalia but identifies as female. Kathoeys are sometimes considered to be a third gender, and they have a long history in Thai culture. Since 2015, they have enjoyed enhanced legal protections in the country.

42. Lhamana (Zuni)

A lhamana is a person from the Zuni tribe in North America (primarily, western New Mexico) who may be assigned male at birth but transitions to living as a female. The lhamana are considered to be a third gender in Zuni culture. Interestingly, in Zuni culture, gender roles are traditionally firmly set, but not connected to assigned sex at birth, opening space for fluid gender expression.

43. Mahu (Hawaii)

A mahu is a person from Hawaii who may be born with male genitalia but identifies as female. Mahus are also known to wear women’s clothing and may take on feminine roles in their society. In ancient Hawaiian culture, mahu were revered as keepers of knowledge and skilled in the arts. Some modern scholars believe that the term “mahu” is no longer an accurate description of Native Hawaiian transgender people and prefer to use the term “wahine maoli” ( Native Hawaiian woman) instead.

44. Male

The term male is a term to describe cisgendered people who were assigned male at birth and embrace that identification for themselves. A male may or may not embrace traditional masculinity roles. In today’s society, there is a wide spectrum of ways to embody masculinity that can reject toxic masculinity performances of the past.

45. Maverique

A maverique is a person who defies traditional gender roles and expectations. Maveriques may identify as being of their own gender, but not male or female. Unlike other classifications, maveriqes are not agendered as they believe them to be of a distinct gender that does not fit on a spectrum of male-female. They are often creative, independent thinker, and non-conformists.

46. Metis (Nepal)

Metis are from the Nepalese culture. They are people who display femininity in a masculine body. They have been officially recognized as a third gender in Nepal since 2007.

47. MTF (Male-to-Female)

MTF is a term used to describe a person who was assigned the male gender at birth but identifies as a woman. This acronym stands for “male-to-female.” A person who is MTF may choose to undergo hormone therapy and/or sex reassignment surgery to transition to living as a woman.

48. Muxe (Mexico)

The Muxe are a third gender people from the Zapotec indigenous people of Oaxaca, Mexico. Muxes are assigned male at birth but typically dress and behave in ways that are traditionally associated with women. Muxes occupy a unique and revered position in Zapotec culture, and they have been known to take on both masculine and feminine roles in their society.

49. Neither

People who identify as being of neither gender generally do not wish to be placed on a traditional gender spectrum or may identify as a third gender. ‘Neither’ as a gender designation is regularly used as a catch-all category on government forms for anyone who is not cisgendered.

50. Neutrois

Neutrosis was a gender identity first described in 1995. It is made up of the french terms neutre, meaning “neutral” trois meaning “three.” It is used by people to explain that they are of a non-binary unidentified gender or no gender at all.

51. Ninauposkitzipxpe (Blackfoot)

The Ninauposkitzipxpe are a third gender people from the Blackfoot tribe of North America (Southern Alberta). The Ninauposkitzipxpe are assigned female at birth and typically dressed as women. However, they often took on traditionally cis-male roles within the society. The word translates to “manly-hearted women“.

52. Nadleehi and Dilbaa (Navajo)

The Navajo Native American tribe has four genders, with the two non-cis genders being Nadleehi and Dilbaa. The Nadleehi are assigned male at birth while the Dilbaa are assigned female at birth. However, both genders may take on traditionally feminine or masculine roles and dress according to their chosen gender. According to this source, Nadleehi and Dilbaa genders are fluid throughout a person’s life.

53. Non-binary

Non-binary is a term used to describe people who do not identify as exclusively male or female. Non-binary people may identify as being of multiple genders, no gender, or a third gender. Non-binary people may also use gender-neutral pronouns such as they/them/their.

54. Novigender

Novigender can be used to describe people who find it difficult to describe or understand how they experience gender. Novigender people may feel like their gender is ever-changing or hard to pin down.

55. Other

‘Other’ is a formal classification people can select on gender forms to indicate that they do not fit into a binary gender construction. It is often used on official government forms, similar to ‘Neither’. People who identify as ‘other’ may also feel as if there is not a word to describe their experience of gender.

56. Paṇḍaka

Paṇḍakas are a gender of people who are born without the male sex organ. In ancient India, they were not considered to be men or women, but rather a third gender. They typically dress and behave like women, and many Paṇḍakas even undergo surgery to make their bodies look more female.

Paṇḍakas have a long history in India, and their role in society has changed over time. In the early Vedic period, they were seen as a separate and distinct gender, but over time they became more marginalized. By the time of the Mahabharata, they were often seen as effeminate men or as impotent men.

57. Pangender

Pangender is a term used to describe people who identify as multiple genders. Pangender people may feel like they are a combination of genders, or that their gender is constantly changing. It is often used to mean “all genders”.

58. Polygender

Like pangender, polygender is a gender identity which refers to feeling multiple genders simultaneously or over time. Polygender people may feel like they are a combination of two or more genders, that their gender changes over time, or that they have no specific gender. Like many other non-binary identities, polygender is often seen as falling outside of the traditional

59. Quariwarmi (Inca, Peru)

Quariwarmi was a third gender in pre-colonial Incan society. They were considered to be neither male nor female, but instead something in between. They typically dressed and behaved in ways that were considered to be more feminine than masculine. In some cases, they may have also been intersex or transgender people.

60. Sekrata (Madagascar)

The Sekrata gender is a third gender in Madagascar society. People who identify as Sekrata are generally assigned male at birth but may dress and behave in ways that are traditionally associated with women and are often respected and revered dancers.

61. Sistergirl and Brotherboy (Aboriginal Australian)

Sistergirl is a term used in Aboriginal Australian society to refer to transgender women. It is considered a respectful and positive term by those within the community.

Sistergirls are often born male but identify as female, and may undergo a traditional coming-of-age ceremony. This ceremonious event signifies their official transition into womanhood.

62. Brotherboy (Aboriginal Australia)

Brotherboys are Aboriginal Australians who are trans men. They were assigned female at birth but identify as male. They may also undergo a traditional coming-of-age rite to be recognized as males in society. Like sistergirls, brotherboys are generally respected within their own communities.

63. Third Gender

The third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or others, as neither man nor woman. It is also used to describe those who do not fit into the traditional genders of male and female. Many non-western cultures have embraced multiple genders, undermining the cultural notion that there are just two genders.

64. Tom and Dee Identities

Tom and Dee identities are those of people assigned male or female at birth, respectively, who identify as the opposite gender. For example, a person assigned male at birth who identifies as female would be considered a Tom identity. Likewise, a person assigned female at birth who identifies as male would be considered a Dee identity.

These identities are named after the Tom and Dee characters in the children’s book The Gendered Society Reader. The book was written by two sociologists, Michael Kimmel and Amy Aronson, and it explores how gender impacts everyone’s lives, regardless of their assigned sex.

65. Trans*

Transgender describes people whose gender identity does not match their assigned gender at birth. Often, we simply write Trans* (with an asterisk) in order to be more inclusive of all transgender people, including trans men and trans women.

66. Transmasculine

Transmasculine people are people who are AFAB (assigned female at birth) but identify as masculine (they may be a masculine woman). It is used as a term that’s more specific than trans*, which could describe a wide range of gender identities. 

67. Trans Man

A trans man is a person who was assigned female at birth but identifies as a man. Trans men may or may not go through surgical transitions or take medications so their body matches their gender identity.

68. Trans Woman

Trans woman people are people who are AMAB (assigned male at birth) but identify as a woman. They may or may not go through a surgical transition. 

69. Transfeminine

Transfeminine people are people who are AMAB (assigned male at birth) but identify as feminine (they may be a feminine man). Note that feminine and female are not the same, where feminine is a collection of behaviors while female is a gender identification.

70. Transsexual

Transsexual is a term used to describe someone who has undergone a surgical transition to change their physical appearance to match their gender identity. This could include things like chest reconstruction (top surgery) or vaginoplasty (bottom surgery). Not all transgender people choose to have surgery, and not all who do identify as transsexual. The term is often considered outdated and offensive by many in the transgender community.

71. Transsexual Female

A transsexual female is a person who was assigned male at birth but has transitioned to live as a woman. This could include undergoing surgery and/or hormone therapy to change their physical appearance. Not all transgender women identify as transsexual, and not all transsexual women undergo surgery.

72. Transsexual Male

A transsexual male is a person who was assigned female at birth but has transitioned to live as a man. This could include undergoing surgery and/or hormone therapy to change their physical appearance. Not all transgender men identify as transsexual, and not all transsexual men undergo surgery.

73. Travesti

Travesti is a Latin American term for people who were assigned male at birth but identifu as a woman. They often live and work in all-travesti environments, such as nightclubs and brothels. They may or may not undergo hormone therapy or surgery to change their physical appearance.

74. Trigender

Trigender is a gender identity that refers to people who experience three genders: male, female, and something else that is neither of those two. This third gender can be a combination of both male and female, somewhere in between the two, or something entirely different. Trigender people may identify as any combination of genders, including but not limited to: agender, bigender, genderfluid, or pangender. Not all trigender people experience the same three genders in the same way.

75. Two-Spirit

Two-Spirit Female is a term used to describe a Native American gender identity. Two-Spirit people are those who have both male and female spirits, and are often seen as having special powers as a result. It explains gender non-conformity in spiritual terms, seeing the person as having a spirit that spans traditional gender constructs.

76. Two-Spirit Female

Two-Spirit females are often women who identify as having both a male and female spirit. In Canada, they’re often acknowledged in the acronym LGBTQI2S+. Check with the two-spirit person for the culturally appropriate way in which they define themselves.

77. Two-Spirit Male

Two-Spirit males are men who identify as having both a male and female spirit. This term (as with two-spirit female) often differs depending on the Native American culture, remembering that there were a wide range of cultures in existence before colonization. Therefore, it’s important to ask the two-spirit person how they would like to be identified.

78. Waria (Indonesia)

Waria is a term used in Indonesia to describe people who are assigned male at birth but identify as women. The term itself is an Indonesian language portmanteau of woman (wanita) and man (pria). They often face discrimination within parts of conservative Indonesian culture.

79. Whakawahine (New Zealand)

Whakawahine is a Maori term used to describe people who are assigned female at birth but identify as men. It’s one of the many traditional gender identities still present in Maori culture. The word translates from Whaka, meaning ‘towards’, and wahine, meaning ‘woman’.

80. Winkte (Lakota)

The Lakota people of the Sioux Native American tribe have a gender known as winkte. Winkte translates to ‘two-souls person’, and is used to describe someone who is assigned male at birth but has a female spirit.

81. Xanith (Oman)

The Xanith are a third gender found in Oman culture. They are assigned male at birth but undergo a social transition to live as women. This includes learning feminine gender roles and occupations typically associated with women. The Xanith are also referred to as Khanith.

Conclusion

According to social constructivism, there are many different genders, and this is just a small sampling of them. From a social constructivist lens, gender is fluid and increasingly considered a social construct. People’s identities can change over time.

While some people might say that it’s only been the last few decades where gender has been dislodged from the cis binary, this list shows that, throughout history, non-western cultures have had words to describe many different genders, not just two.

Chris

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education.

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  • Word for all future generations
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