xe

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (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

Pronoun

xe (third-person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, oblique xem, reflexive xyrself, possessive xyr)

1. (nonstandard) they (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.
   • 1992, Jim Sinclair, “If you could choose...”, in Jim Sinclair's Web Site‎, 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 (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 (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 (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 (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.

Anagrams

• EX, -ex, ex-, ex., ex

Alternative forms

• che (superseded)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈt͡ʃe]

Interjection

xe

1. (Valencia) hey

Further reading

• “xe” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “xe” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “xe”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “xe” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic أَخَذَ (ʔaḵaḏa).

Verb

xe I (present pkyaxo)

1. to take
2. to catch fire

References

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

Etymology

Compare Xârâgurè sa (“hit”).

Verb

xe

1. smack

References

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

Adjective

xe

1. hoarse

Noun

xe

1. bird

Verb

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

Etymology

From x +‎ -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kse/, /ksɛ/

Noun

xe (plural xe-i)

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

Pronoun

xe

1. (chiefly southern East Midland dialectal) Alternative form of sche