Just In: Merriam-Webster Adds Non-Binary Definition of ‘They’ to Dictionary

The famous Merriam-Webster dictionary has added a definition of “they” in order to reflect “the word’s increased usage as a pronoun that refers to those who conceive of themselves as neither male nor female” reported the National Review.

In an announcement from the official twitter account, Merriam-Webster wrote: “The nonbinary pronoun ‘they’ has been added to the dictionary” with an online link to the definitions. The newly added fourth definition reads: “- used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.”

The example for how it is used in a sentence is as follows: “I knew certain things about…the person I was interviewing…They had adopted their gender-neutral name a few years ago, when they began to concisely identify as nonbinary – that is, neither male nor female. They were in their late 20s, working as an event planner, applying to graduate school.”

The nonbinary pronoun ‘they’ has been added to the dictionary. https://t.co/tadl1VdfB0

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) September 17, 2019