xe

See also: Appendix:Variations of "xe"

English

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, object case xem, reflexive xyrself, possessive xyr)

1. (nonstandard) they (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.
   • 1992, Sinclair, Jim, “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, Sinclair, Jim, “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, Alpen, Dagmar, “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, Curtin, Mary Ellen, “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, von Mattell, Ken, “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.

Usage notes

• Xe normally uses third-person singular conjugations, unlike singular they: xe is, xe does, xe has, etc. (Contrast they are, they do, they have.)

Declension

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

Synonyms

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

Hyponyms

• he, she

See also

• Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Anagrams

• -ex, ex, ex-, ex.

Catalan

Alternative forms

• che (superseded)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛ/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛ/

Interjection

xe

1. (Valencia) hey

Derived terms

• terra del xe

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, 2023
• “xe” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cypriot Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic أَخَذَ‎ (ʔaḵaḏa).

Verb

xe (present pkyaxo)

1. to take
2. to catch fire

Drehu

Etymology

Compare Xaragure 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

Ewe

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

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kse/, /ksɛ/

Noun

xe (plural xe-i)

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

See also

• (Latin script letter names) litero; 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 ^{(Category: io:Latin letter names)}

Middle English

Pronoun

xe

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

Paipai

Noun

xe

1. pot, kettle

Venetian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈze/

Verb

xe

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

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]

Etymology 1

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

Noun

(classifier chiếc; con) xe • (車)

1. wheeled vehicle (except for airplanes)

   Synonym: xế

   đậu xe ― to park

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

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

Derived terms

• bánh xe
• bằng lái xe
• bến xe
• bến xe buýt
• cỗ xe
• dấu xe ngựa
• đẩy xe
• giấy phép lái xe
• gọng xe
• hòm xe
• kẹt xe
• lái xe
• loại từ vòng gửi xe
• lơ xe
• ngựa xe như nước
• nhà xe
• nhíp xe
• phu xe
• ruột xe
• say xe
• thùng xe
• toa xe
• tông xe
• trạm xe lửa
• xe ba bánh
• xe ba gác
• xe bán tải
• xe ben
• xe bình bịch
• xe bò
• xe bọc thép
• xe buýt
• xe ca
• xe cải tiến
• xe cam nhông
• xe cam-nhông
• xe cấp cứu
• xe chữa cháy
• xe cộ
• xe công nông
• xe cúp
• xe cút kít
• xe cứu hỏa
• xe cứu thương
• xe dây
• xe du lịch
• xe đạp
• xe đạp bánh béo
• xe đẩy hàng
• xe điện
• xe điện ngầm
• xe đò
• xe đòn
• xe độc mã
• xe gắn máy
• xe gíp
• xe goòng
• xe hai bánh
• xe hàng
• xe hoa
• xe hỏa
• xe hòm
• xe hon đa
• xe Honda
• xe hơi
• xe hương
• xe kéo
• xe khách
• xe lai
• xe lai sạc điện
• xe lam
• xe lăn
• xe lăn đường
• xe lôi
• xe lội nước
• xe lu
• xe lửa
• xe lửa cao tốc
• xe máy
• xe mô tô
• xe mô-tô
• xe ngựa
• xe nôi
• xe ô-tô
• xe ôm
• xe pháo
• xe rác
• xe rùa
• xe song mã
• xe tải
• xe tang
• xe tay
• xe tắc xi
• xe tắc-xi
• xe tăng
• xe thiết giáp
• xe thổ mộ
• xe thư
• xe trượt tuyết
• xe tứ mã
• xe tưới đường
• xe ủi đất
• xe vận tải
• xe xích lô
• xuống xe

 

Descendants

• Tai Dam: ꪵꪎ

Noun

(classifier con) xe • (車)

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

Etymology 2

Adjective

xe

1. (obsolete) many