xe

Apparently independently invented by several people, including Don Rickter. The pronoun appeared in the Unitarian Universalist publication UU World on May 1, 1973, and Mario Pei gave Rickter credit on page 145 of his book Weasel Words (1978).

• (UK) enPR: zē, hē, ksē, IPA^(key): /ziː/, /hiː/, /ksiː/
• (US) enPR: zē, hē, ksē, IPA^(key): /zi/, /hi/, /ksi/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: he, z

xe (third-person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, oblique xem, reflexive xyrself or xirself or xemself, possessive xyr or xir or xer)

1. (nonstandard) they (singular); gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she. quotations ▼
   • 1992, Jim Sinclair, “If you could choose...”, in Jim Sinclair's Web Site‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 November 2003:

     Anyone I would be interested in would have to be a pretty special person. I wouldn't want to miss out on knowing such a person just because xe happened to be the "wrong" sex.

   • 1993 September 14, Jim Sinclair, “Re: Jim and Steve's snoring discussion”, in bit.listserv.autism‎^[2] (Usenet), message-ID <AUTISM%93091417074261@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>:

     Telepathy would require that you share the other person's knowledge of xyr own mind, which in turn requires recognizing that xe is actually aware of what xe's thinking, which is incompatible with psychiatry.

   • 1999 April 28, Dagmar Alpen, “Re: Think of a small tribe of people...”, in talk.politics.libertarian‎^[3] (Usenet), message-ID <7g74qb$8sq$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de>:

     Now full ownership in the modern sense... implies four rights of the owner: 1. The right to decide what xe does with xyr property; 2. the right to decide what others do with xyr property; […]

   • 2000 December 11, Mary Ellen Curtin, “Silencing and ad hominem attacks”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated‎^[4] (Usenet), message-ID <074d01c06393$c1a2fb00$5be9cfcf@default>:

     Since xe went to the trouble of re-posting, I figured it was about something of more than usual importance to hir... I wrote to EmGee privately and xe said yes, that was one of the things xe was talking about.

   • 2002 March 3, Ken von Mattell, “Re: Newbie...not quite sure yet...”, in alt.suicide.holiday‎^[5] (Usenet), message-ID <rif48uc0ja9q3km9o2jf167d4u4o3qpk1k@4ax.com>:

     I mean, suppose there's someone who can't leave the house because xe's all tied up with counting tiles in the bathroom all day, and if xe manages to get done with that, there's the stove to check again and again ... you get the idea.

   • 2023, Aimee Ogden, “A Half-Remembered World”, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, vol. 145, no. 1-2, whole no. 768 (July/August 2023), pages 146-202

     The soft blue sky had the feel of a good omen. In Xir old age, the god moved slower every year; lingering in the shallows long after the last fish had been swallowed up by nets. Sometimes Xe stood still for days, in sight of the shore, as if Xe had not quite decided whether to beach Xemself for good. Let Xem only survive long enough to spawn a new god! Else Xir helpless people would be godless ans stranded in the haunted dryland where the dead cities slept. Where less kindly deities roamed.

• Xe normally uses third-person singular conjugations, unlike singular they: xe is, xe does, xe has, etc. (Contrast they are, they do, they have.)
• Xe pronouns are sometimes used by far-right internet communities when speaking about people they are mocking.^[1]

• Subject: xe (sometimes xhe)
• Object: xem (or xer)
• Possessive: xyr or xir (sometimes xis, xer or xeir)
• Reflexive: xyrself or xirself (rarely xemself, xerself, ximself)

• (singular) they
• (neologism) e, ey, sie, ze, per

• he, she

• Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

• EX, -ex, ex-, ex., ex

xe

1. third-person plural form of -e

• che (superseded)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈt͡ʃe]

xe

1. (Valencia) hey

• terra del xe

• “xe” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “xe”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “xe”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “xe”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Inherited from Arabic أَخَذَ (ʔaḵaḏa).

xe I (present pkyaxo)

1. to take
2. to catch fire

• Borg, Alexander (2004), A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 137

From Proto-Athabaskan *χəz.

xe

1. pus

• Dogrib Divisional Board of Education (1996), A Dogrib Dictionary, Rae-Edzo, Northwest Territories, Canada: Dogrib Divisional Board of Education, →ISBN, page 200

Compare Xârâgurè sa (“hit”).

xe

1. smack

• Tryon, Darrell T. (1967), “xe”, in Dehu-English dictionary (Pacific Linguistics; C–6)‎^[6], Canberra, ACT: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, page 131

• Claire Moyse-Faurie, Constructions expressing middle, reflexive and reciprocal situations in some Oceanic languages, in Reciprocals and Reflexives: Theoretical and Typological Explorations

xe

1. hoarse

xe

1. bird

xe

1. to block so that it is not possible to pass / to prevent (something or someone) from passing
2. to catch (a ball)
3. to fill, to make full
4. to seal, to prevent people or vehicles from crossing (something) or to close (it) securely to prevent leakage

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃe/ [ˈʃe]
• Rhymes: -e

xe m (plural xes)

1. The name of the Latin script letter X/x.

• (Latin-script letter names) letra; a, be, ce, de, e, efe, gue, hache, i, ele, eme, ene, eñe, o, pe, que, erre, ese, te, u, uve, xe, ceta / zeta

• “xe”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

From x +‎ -e.

• IPA^(key): /kse/, /ksɛ/

xe (plural xe-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter X/x.

• Latin script letter names: literi: a · be · ce · che · de · e · fe · ge · he · i · je · ke · le · me · ne · o · pe · que · re · se · she · te · u · ve · we · xe · ye · ze ^[edit]

xe

1. (Norfolk) alternative form of sche

• IPA^(key): /χe/

xe

1. question particle

• xae

• Sands, Bonny & Jones, Kerry & Esau, Katrina & Collins, Chris & Witzlack-Makarevich, Alena & Job, Sylvanus & Miller, Amanda & Steyn, Betta & Zaanen, Menno & Namaseb, Levi & Berg, Dietloff & Mantzel, Dotty & Damarah, Willem & Snyman, Claudia & Wyk, David & Brugman, Johanna & Exter, Mats & Vaalbooi, Antjie & Westhuizen, Mietjie. (2022). Nǀuuki Namagowab Afrikaans English ǂXoakiǂxanisi/Mîdi di ǂKhanis/Woordeboek/Dictionary

• che (obsolete)

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *t͡ʃe (“I, me”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛ/
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: xe

xe (2nd class, 1st person singular, dative xebe / xebo, 1st class equivalent ixé)

1. I, me
2. my, mine

• Nheengatu: se

• Navarro, Eduardo de Almeida (2013), “xe”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil [Dictionary of Old Tupi: The Classical Indigenous Language of Brazil ] (overall work in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, page 202, column 1

xe

1. pot, kettle

• IPA^(key): /ˈze/

xe

1. third-person singular present indicative of èser
2. third-person plural present indicative of èser

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  Duration: 1 second.0:01

  (file)

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 車 (“vehicle”, SV: xa). Compare hè and hạ, chè and trà.

(classifier chiếc, con, cỗ) xe • (車)

1. wheeled vehicle (except for airplanes) synonym ▲

   Synonym: xế

   đậu xe ― to park

   lái xe ― to pilot a wheeled vehicle other than planes or trains; to drive, to ride, etc.

• This term includes steam trains (xe lửa) in Southern Vietnam but not in Northern Vietnam, where they are classified as tàu (tàu hỏa).

• → Tai Dam: ꪵꪎ

(classifier con, quân) xe • (車)

1. (xiangqi) chariot, a piece labeled with the characters 車 / 车 (xa, black) and 俥 / 伡 (red)
2. (by extension, chess) rook

Xiangqi pieces in Vietnamese quân cờ tướng (layout · text)
tướng, soái	sĩ	tượng, tịnh	mã	xe, xa	pháo	tốt, chốt

Chess pieces in Vietnamese · quân cờ vua (layout · text)
vua	hậu	xe, xa	tượng, tịnh	mã	tốt, chốt

xe

1. (colloquial, uncommon) to transport using a wheeled vehicles

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

xe

1. to spin small threads into a big one

   xe chỉ ― to spin into threads

   xe tơ ― to spin into silk

   1. (literary) to make something big from small ones

      xe cát ― to make a big pile of sand

   2. (literary) to bring two people together in marriage

      kết tóc xe tơ ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

xe

1. a pipe used to smoke makhorka or opium