Overview
What ambonec means.
Ambonec (shortened to AN) is a gender in which someone is female, male, and neither, all at the same time. The name is built from Latin: ambo, meaning both, and nec, meaning neither.
There are two common interpretations. One treats it as a trigender identity — male, female, and a third gender that is neither, such as agender, maverique or neutrois. The other treats the gender itself as paradoxical: feeling both male and female while also, at once, feeling like neither of those things, rather than three separate genders lined up together. Some people also describe being demi-ambonec, meaning the identity shifts or applies only under certain circumstances.
What separates it from its nearest neighbours is that both halves are held together rather than in sequence. Bigender usually implies two countable genders; ambonec is one description that refuses to resolve into either "both" or "neither" alone, and needs the two held at once to be accurate.
Identifying as male, female and neither, simultaneously.
Ambonec in one line
Origin
Where the word comes from
Ambonec was coined by the Tumblr user nbshadow (later going by transmalenaoto), who has since deactivated their account, sometime before 12 August 2014. The original post described AN as identifying as both male and female while also identifying as neither, at the same time, and noted that a person could lean toward any gender expression and could combine it with other multigender identities. A flag was posted by the Tumblr blog pride-flags-for-us on 18 May 2015, with no recorded meaning behind its colours; a further alternate flag was made by the Tumblr user puppybeing.
- Coined by
- Tumblr user nbshadow (transmalenaoto)
- First recorded
- 2014
- Where
- Tumblr
Signs people describe
Common experiences
None of these is a test. Most people recognise a few and shrug at the rest.
Asked whether you're a man or a woman, the honest answer is yes, and also no, and neither half feels like it can be dropped.
"Sir" and "ma'am" both land as equally correct and equally incomplete.
Bigender felt close but broke on the word "two" — this isn't two genders taking turns, it's one thing that's both and neither at once.
Genderfluid didn't hold either, because nothing about it moves — the both-and-neither has stayed constant since you first noticed it.
Androgyne felt like being placed at a midpoint, when what you actually have isn't a blend or a midpoint but the full presence of both, plus a stepping outside of the whole system.
On a form with two boxes, you pick whichever causes less trouble that day, and it doesn't feel dishonest either way.
Pronouns
Pronouns
Ambonec doesn't specify pronouns. People who use the word are found using they/them, he, she, he and she interchangeably, or neopronouns such as ey/em, xe/xem or ze/hir. Some deliberately ask for he and she in rotation because each is half right; others find any gendered word uncomfortable and prefer they/them throughout. In languages with no neutral option, people generally improvise rather than there being one correct approach.
Consider another path
This might not be your word if…
- 1Your gender changes over time — man some weeks, woman others — rather than being both and neither at once: that's genderfluid.
- 2You can feel two distinct genders with a clear seam between them, rather than one identity that resists being split into two: bigender is the more precise word.
- 3You feel nothing where gender is supposed to be, with no "both" alongside the "neither": that's closer to agender.
- 4What you mean is being a woman who likes masculine things, or a man who likes wearing dresses: that's about expression, not about which genders you hold.
- 5You're intersex and looking for a word about your body rather than your sense of your own gender — being intersex is a physical fact, not this identity.
Close by
Related identities
Bigender
Two genders that are countable, whether held at once, in turn, or side by side. Ambonec is one gender that includes both and stands outside both, rather than two separate ones.
ReadAndrogyne
A single gender blending masculine and feminine into one thing. Ambonec's "neither" isn't a halfway point between the two — it's a step outside the frame entirely.
Read
Genderfluid
Describes gender that moves over time. Ambonec is fixed — a constant, single description that happens to require two opposing words to state accurately.
Read
Agender
No gender at all. Shares ambonec's "neither" but has none of its "both".
ReadMaverique
A gender entirely apart from male and female, with no reference to either. Ambonec keeps both explicitly in the picture, which is the main difference.
ReadNon-binary
The umbrella ambonec sits under. Most people who use ambonec also use non-binary as a simpler public label.
ReadQuestions people ask
Frequently asked questions
Is ambonec the same as bigender?+
They're close neighbours but not the same. Bigender usually describes two countable genders, whether experienced together, in turn, or side by side. Ambonec is one gender that is simultaneously both male and female and also neither — a single paradoxical description rather than two separate identities.
Who coined the term ambonec?+
The Tumblr user nbshadow, later using the name transmalenaoto, coined it sometime before 12 August 2014, in a post explaining that AN meant identifying as both male and female while also identifying as neither, at the same time. That account has since been deactivated.
What does 'demi-ambonec' mean?+
It describes someone for whom the both-and-neither identity isn't constant — it may only apply under certain circumstances, such as particular moods, rather than being a permanent, unchanging state.
Is there a settled ambonec flag?+
No single design has become the agreed standard. A flag was posted by the Tumblr blog pride-flags-for-us on 18 May 2015 with no recorded meaning, and at least one alternate design has been made since by another Tumblr user, so multiple versions circulate without one being definitive.
The flag
A flag was posted by the Tumblr blog pride-flags-for-us on 18 May 2015 with no recorded colour meaning, and at least one further alternate design has circulated since from a different creator. With no single agreed version or documented meaning, no stripes are reproduced here.
Sources
- Ambonec — LGBTQIA+ Wiki Definition, coining by nbshadow/transmalenaoto (before 12 August 2014), etymology, and flag history — fetched 2026-09-06.
- Introducing: Ambonec [AN for short] — Queer As Cat (original Tumblr post) Reblog of the original coining post describing the identity and its optional demi- variant — fetched 2026-09-06.
Still figuring things out?
Twenty questions, four minutes, and a few words worth trying on.