List of nonbinary identities

This alphabetical list of some of the more common nonbinary identities lists many gender identities that are nonbinary. That is, those other than just female and male identities, which are the binary genders. This list gives names for nonbinary identities in English-speaking cultures, as well as those that are part of other cultures. (For the latter, please never use a word for your gender that belongs only to a culture or ethnic group that is not yours.) Some of these words for nonbinary genders have been used in writing for thousands of years. Meanwhile, some of these words were created more recently. This page lists fewer of the older gender-variant identities than the new ones, because it can be harder to say whether it's accurate to put those in the category of "nonbinary." See also List of uncommon nonbinary identities.

A

 * agender. 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.
 * agenderflux. Coined by perfectlybrokenbones in 2014. "Where you identify as agender but have fluctuations where you feel feminine or masculine but not male or female".
 * androgyne. This word is used for a wide variety of gender nonconforming and non-binary gender identities and gender expressions.
 * aporagender. Coined in 2014, from Greek ἀπό (apó; denotes separation, departure, origin, &c.) + "gender". 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).

B

 * bigender, or bi-gender. Bigender individuals have two gender identities, at the same time, or at different times. These two genders might be female and male, or they might be a different pair of genders.
 * butch. Together with its queer feminine counterpart, femme, butch is a form of female masculinity that originated in working-class lesbian bar culture in the 1940s. The best-known touchstone of butch culture is that written by the revolutionary communist and transgender rights activist Leslie Feinberg (1949 - 2014), who was in it from the 1950s onward. Feinberg based the semi-autobiographical novel Stone Butch Blues on her experience as a butch. The novel explores the wide variety of kinds of butches that there are (soft butch, stone butch, those who transition and who don't, and so on). Feinberg defines butch as a category of gender identity itself, neither male nor female. Butch is genderqueer. Butch-femme couples are not an imitation of heterosexuality, nor is butch simply manhood or an imitation of it. In Female Masculinity, Jack Halberstam defines the indefinability of butch: "The butch is neither cis-gender nor simply transgender, the butch is a bodily catachresis. The Greek word, catachresis, means the rhetorical practice of misnaming something for which there would otherwise be no words. Butch is always a misnomer-- not male, not female, masculine but not male, female but not feminine, the term serves as a placeholder for the un-assimilable". Butch is a broad category that has included many kinds of queer masculine people. Some other notable people who identify as butch as a gender outside the binary include Ivan E. Coyote, Kelli Dunham, and Sonalee Rashatwar.

D

 * demiboy. A gender identity that expresses both male identity and Agender identity, or both male and genderless.
 * demigender. An umbrella term for nonbinary gender identities that have a partial connection to a certain gender.
 * demigirl. A gender identity that expresses both female identity and Agender identity, or both female and genderless.

E

 * enby. Created in 2013 by a non-binary person named vector (revolutionator). Based on an initialism of "non-binary," "NB". A common noun for a person with a non-binary gender identity. This is the nonbinary gender equivalent of the common nouns "boy" or "girl." Plural: enbies.

F

 * fa'afafine. In Samoa, the Fa'afafine are people who were assigned male at birth, have a feminine gender expression, and don't think of themselves as female or male.
 * femme. This term has its origins on lesbian people and is mostly used by lesbian women. However, some nonbinary or genderqueer people are known to use this term as well.

G



 * 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, but genderfluidity is not limited to being only male and female. Fluid gender.
 * genderflux. Coined by deergoths in 2014. "Genderflux means that your internal sense of how gendered you are varies over time. One day, you might feel really gendered, and the next day, you might have a very weak feeling of gender, or not feel like any gender at all. Whereas genderfluidity is a shift between different genders, genderflux is more like varying intensity." 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.
 * genderfuck. A gender identity or expression that is intently outside of any binary, and may use expression to subvert cultural norms.
 * genderless. Having no gender identity. Syn. agender.
 * gender neutral. 1. That which has nothing to do with gender, or is inclusive of any gender. 2. Having no gender identity; agender. 3. Having a gender identity that is neutral: not female, not male, not a mix; compare neutrois.
 * genderqueer is a non-normative gender identity or expression. This can be an umbrella term, or a specific identity.
 * gendervoid. Coined by Baaphomett in 2014. "A gender consisting of the void (also/originally used to mean the same thing as genderless)."

H

 * hijra. In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the Hijra are people who were assigned male at birth, who have a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition. Today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male.

M

 * māhū. In Hawaii, in the Kanaka Maoli society, the māhū is a nonbinary gender role, made of people who may have been assigned either male or female at birth. This tradition existed before Western invaders, and survives today.
 * maverique. Coined by Vesper H. (queerascat) in 2014. 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."

N

 * neutrois. Coined by a neutrois person named H. A. Burnham in 1995. Having one non-binary 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.
 * nonbinary is 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-gendered. An identity brought to the fore by Christie Elan-Cane since at least 2000. Having no gender.
 * neurogender. Coined by aflutteringlaney. "A gender feeling that is strongly linked to one’s status as neurodivergent. Note: obviously, only for use by neurodivergent people; can be used as an umbrella term for other neurodivergent-related genders." Keywords: neurodiversity, mental variation, mental disorder, autism spectrum disorder.

P

 * polygender. Having several gender identities, particularly four or more of them. This can mean at different times, or at the same time.
 * pangender (from Greek πᾶν/pân "all, the whole"). A pangender person is a person who considers themselves as a member of all genders.

Q

 * 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.

S

 * stargender. A gender identity that is described as a feeling of an otherwordly, non-human gender. This term falls under the broader category of xenogender. It exists on a separate axis from the binary genders male or female, and as such cannot be defined in relation to these terms.

T

 * transfeminine. A transgender person who transitions in a feminine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as female. They may have a non-binary gender identity.
 * transgender is an umbrella term that refers to people whose identity differs from their assigned gender at birth. Some nonbinary people also use this word to talk about their identity.
 * transmasculine. A transgender person who transitions in a masculine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as male. They may have a non-binary gender identity.
 * Two-spirit. "Berdache" was an old word used by European-American anthropologists as an umbrella term for LGBT identities (including those noted as nonbinary gender roles) in hundreds of cultures throughout North and South America. The term was internationally replaced by Two-Spirit in 1990 at an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering. Both terms should only be used in reference to people who are Native American.

X

 * 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." An umbrella term for many nonbinary gender identities defined in reference to very different ideas than female or male.
 * X-gender (Ｘジェンダー, ekkusujendā). In Japan, this is a common transgender identity that isn't female or male, much as the words "genderqueer" and "nonbinary" has come to be in the English-speaking world, to such a degree that X-gender is typically used as a translation for these.