Ze/Hir
Ze/hir pairs a new subject word, ze, with hir, a blend of him, his and her that is said exactly like "here".
- ze
- hir
- hir
- hirs
Said: zee / here
The forms
| Subject | zeze is here |
|---|---|
| Object | hirI saw hir |
| Possessive | hirhir book |
| Possessive (standing alone) | hirsthat is hirs |
| Reflexive | hirselfby hirself |
In a sentence
What it is
Ze/hir is a mixed set. Ze is the subject, in place of he or she. Hir does the work of him, his and her, and it is pronounced "here". Ze is at the door. I gave hir the keys. Hir bike is outside.
It has a longer paper trail than most neopronouns, mostly through Kate Bornstein's writing in the 1990s, and it is one of the few sets that has made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. That does not make it common. Expect to explain it.
How to use it
- Singular verbs: ze is, ze was, ze has.
- Hir does three jobs. Object (I saw hir), possessive before a noun (hir coat), and the standalone possessive adds an s (that coat is hirs).
- Hir is said "here", not "her". That is the mistake people make most, and it matters, because her is the word ze is trying to avoid.
- There is a sister set, ze/zir, with the same subject and a z all the way through. They are not interchangeable; check which one the person uses.
- Mistake? Correct the single word and move on. "His — hir — bike." Done.
Getting used to it
- Say "hir" as "here" ten times before you use it in front of the person. Rhyme drills feel silly and they work.
- Rewrite one message you already sent about the person with ze/hir before you send the next one.
- Add ze and hir to your phone's dictionary so autocorrect stops changing them to he and her.
Who uses this
Ze/Hir comes up on six pages in the library.
That is all this list is. No identity requires a pronoun set, and most imply nothing about pronouns at all.
Transgender 1 entry
Non-Binary 3 entries
Agender 2 entries
Where it comes from
Partly on record. Wiktionary describes hir as a blend of him/his and her, with a 1971 journal article by Alexander M. Mood as its earliest citation (Pronouns.page points to an even earlier newspaper proposal, in 1920). Wiktionary's earliest citation for ze is Kate Bornstein and Caitlin Sullivan's 1996 novel Nearly Roadkill, which Wikipedia calls one of the earliest publications to use ze/hir for a character. Wikipedia also records that the Oxford English Dictionary added ze in 2018 and hir in 2019. Who first put the two words together is not recorded.
Questions people ask
Is it ze/hir or ze/zir?
Both exist. Ze/hir uses the older hir. Ze/zir keeps the z sound throughout. Someone may use one, the other or either; the profile, signature or the person will tell you. If it just says "ze", ask which.
Why does hir sound like a real word?
Because it is built from real ones: him, his and her, mashed together. Saying it as "here" keeps it apart from "her" out loud.
Other sets
Pronouns are one part of it
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