Subject
ze
Object
hir
Possessive
hir
Possessive (alone)
hirs
Reflexive
hirself
Said like: zee / here
Ze/hir is a mixed set. Ze is the subject, in place of he or she. Hir does the work of him, his and her, and it is pronounced "here". Ze is at the door. I gave hir the keys. Hir bike is outside.
It has a longer paper trail than most neopronouns, mostly through Kate Bornstein's writing in the 1990s, and it is one of the few sets that has made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. That does not make it common. Expect to explain it.
In a sentence
Ze said ze would be late.
I sent hir the address and hir reply came within a minute.
Hir bag is here; the umbrella is hirs too, and ze carried both hirself.
How to use them
- Singular verbs: ze is, ze was, ze has.
- Hir does three jobs. Object (I saw hir), possessive before a noun (hir coat), and the standalone possessive adds an s (that coat is hirs).
- Hir is said "here", not "her". That is the mistake people make most, and it matters, because her is the word ze is trying to avoid.
- There is a sister set, ze/zir, with the same subject and a z all the way through. They are not interchangeable; check which one the person uses.
- Mistake? Correct the single word and move on. "His — hir — bike." Done.
Ways to practise
- Say "hir" as "here" ten times before you use it in front of the person. Rhyme drills feel silly and they work.
- Rewrite one message you already sent about the person with ze/hir before you send the next one.
- Add ze and hir to your phone's dictionary so autocorrect stops changing them to he and her.
Where it came from
Partly on record. Wiktionary describes hir as a blend of him/his and her, with a 1971 journal article by Alexander M. Mood as its earliest citation (Pronouns.page points to an even earlier newspaper proposal, in 1920). Wiktionary's earliest citation for ze is Kate Bornstein and Caitlin Sullivan's 1996 novel Nearly Roadkill, which Wikipedia calls one of the earliest publications to use ze/hir for a character. Wikipedia also records that the Oxford English Dictionary added ze in 2018 and hir in 2019. Who first put the two words together is not recorded.
Who uses them
Identities whose pages mention this set. A pronoun never tells you what someone is — this is only where the word turns up.
Questions people ask
Is it ze/hir or ze/zir?
Both exist. Ze/hir uses the older hir. Ze/zir keeps the z sound throughout. Someone may use one, the other or either; the profile, signature or the person will tell you. If it just says "ze", ask which.
Why does hir sound like a real word?
Because it is built from real ones: him, his and her, mashed together. Saying it as "here" keeps it apart from "her" out loud.