Focus Merit

Neutral pronoun ‘they’ voted Word of the Decade

they

Neutral pronoun ‘they’ has been voted word of the decade by US language experts. The recognition comes after US dictionary Merriam-Webster in December named “they” as word of the year. The American Dialect Society had previously named “they” word of the year in 2015.

“They” is used in English by a growing number of non-binary individuals, people who do not identify as either male or female. They prefer the plural neutral pronoun to bypass using the pronouns “he” or “she”.

Exit mobile version