Merriam-Webster added a new definition of the word “they” to its dictionary, declaring the pronoun may be used to refer to a “single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.”
“They” is a liberating pronoun for many non-binary individuals who identify as genders other than male or female. For many Americans, the use of “they” as a singular pronoun can be ungrammatical and confusing.
But Merriam-Webster’s announcement, made on Twitter on Tuesday, marked an official stamp of approval on a term that has become increasingly common as nonbinary identities become more visible than ever.
State and city governments, including in the District of Columbia, California and New York, have begun offering a gender option of “X” on identification cards. Airlines, school districts and colleges nationwide are also allowing alternative gender markers.
“Language responds to social change. Things that need to be expressed get expressed,” said Dennis Baron, professor emeritus of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In recent years, a number of journalism style guides have allowed the gender-neutral pronouns. The Associated Press in 2017 announced it would permit journalists to use the singular “they” in limited cases, and The Washington Post has formally recognized the new pronouns since 2015.
But in a blog post written before Tuesday’s announcement, Merriam-Webster noted that “they” has been used as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s, “and that regardless of what detractors say, nearly everyone uses the singular they in casual conversation and often in formal writing.”
“There have always been people who didn’t conform to an expected gender expression, or who seemed to be neither male nor female. But we’ve struggled to find the right language to describe these people-and in particular, the right pronouns,” the blog post stated. The singular “they,” it said, is “not quite as newfangled as it seems: we have evidence in our files of the nonbinary they dating back to 1950, and it’s likely that there are earlier uses of the nonbinary pronoun they out there.”
The inclusion in Merriam-Webster of a singular “they” is a significant recognition that the new pronouns have reached the mainstream.
