Personal pronouns

A personal pronoun is the word set others use to refer to a member in the third person. The practice of routinely sharing one's pronouns spread widely in the 2010s, building on long-standing English usage and on neopronoun sets proposed since the 19th and 20th centuries. It sorts members by the pronoun set they use and ask others to use.

This is a self-reported identity field, not a scientific classification; pronouns describe how a person refers to and wishes to be referred to by others. (Established English usage with neopronoun coinages from the 1800s-1900s; routine pronoun-sharing popularised in the 2010s)

Groups

• she/her — Feminine third-person pronouns, declined as she/her/hers.
• he/him — Masculine third-person pronouns, declined as he/him/his.
• they/them — Gender-neutral pronouns used in the singular, declined as they/them/theirs.
• she/they — Indicates that both she/her and they/them are welcome.
• he/they — Indicates that both he/him and they/them are welcome.
• ze/hir — A gender-neutral neopronoun set, declined as ze/hir/hir/hirs (ze rhymes with 'zee'; hir pronounced like 'here').
• xe/xem — A gender-neutral neopronoun set, declined as xe/xem/xyr/xyrs (xe pronounced like 'zee'; xyr like 'zeer').
• it/its — Pronouns some people use for themselves by choice, declined as it/its.
• name only (please use my name) — Prefers to be referred to by name rather than by any pronoun.
• any pronouns — Comfortable with any pronoun set being used.
• ask me — Prefers to be asked directly which pronouns to use.

Related topics

• Gender identity
• Sex assigned at birth
• Gender expression
• How central gender is to you
• Gender-role traits (BSRI)

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