Gender neutral language in English: Difference between revisions
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*'''Parriarch.''' Gender non-specific term for matriarch and patriarch. | *'''Parriarch.''' Gender non-specific term for matriarch and patriarch. | ||
*'''Parricide.''' Gender non-specific term for matricide and patricide. | |||
*'''Partyperson, partier, party animal, partygoer.''' Neutral alternatives for partygirl and partyboy. | *'''Partyperson, partier, party animal, partygoer.''' Neutral alternatives for partygirl and partyboy. | ||
*'''Penship, handwriting skill/craft, quality of handwriting, mastery of handwriting.''' Neutral non-male-generalizing alternatives for penmanship. | *'''Penship, handwriting skill/craft, quality of handwriting, mastery of handwriting.''' Neutral non-male-generalizing alternatives for penmanship. | ||
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*'''Shooting mastery/skill, precision shooting.''' Neutral non-male-generalizing alternatives for marksmanship. | *'''Shooting mastery/skill, precision shooting.''' Neutral non-male-generalizing alternatives for marksmanship. | ||
*'''"Sib from another crib".''' Neutral alternative phrase for "sister from another mister"/"sis from another Ms." and "brother from another mother"/"chad from a different dad"/"Tom from a different mom". | *'''"Sib from another crib".''' Neutral alternative phrase for "sister from another mister"/"sis from another Ms." and "brother from another mother"/"chad from a different dad"/"Tom from a different mom". | ||
*'''Siblicide.''' Gender non-specific term for sororicide and fratricide. | |||
*'''Siblinghood, camradeship, fellowship, kinship, community.''' Neutral and more extensive alternatives to sisterhood and brotherhood. | *'''Siblinghood, camradeship, fellowship, kinship, community.''' Neutral and more extensive alternatives to sisterhood and brotherhood. | ||
*'''Snowperson, snowbuddy, snowfriend.''' Neutral alternatives for snowman. | *'''Snowperson, snowbuddy, snowfriend.''' Neutral alternatives for snowman. | ||
Revision as of 15:53, 30 December 2025
Gender neutral language in English is much easier than gender neutral language (also called gender inclusive language) in many other languages, because its grammatical gender is less pervasive than in other languages where adjectives and verbs have masculine or feminine forms. See the main article on gender neutral language for general reasons to use neutral language, common problems in using it, and its use for nonbinary people.
History
Although English has grammatical gender, it's only a vestige of what it once had. Old English once had grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but this practice started to disappear in the 700s, and vanished in the 1200s. The population of England at that time spoke several languages, and the same inanimate objects had different genders in those different languages. They may have stopped using that part entirely just to make it simpler. English stopped using grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but it still uses grammatical