View synonyms for ze

ze

or zie

[ zee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

pronoun

the person being discussed or last mentioned (used as a neopronoun in place of the gendered pronouns he and she ):
My friend didn't want to go to the party, but ze got up and danced when hir favorite song came on!
Rare. a generic or unspecified person previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context (used as a neopronoun):
If any employee has questions, ze should contact HR.

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Gender Note

Gender-neutral pronouns were proposed as far back as the mid-1800s, especially in connection with progressive ideas about women’s rights. More recently, the coinage and use of ze and other gender-neutral pronouns has been motivated by discussions about gender identity. Some individuals, such as nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-nonconforming people, feel uncomfortable being referred to as he or she. Even so, use of ze as a gender-neutral singular third-person pronoun is quite limited, partly because of a general resistance to replacing English pronouns. Pronouns belong to a small, closed class of words whose membership is relatively fixed. they.