xe

See also: XE, Xe, хе, xé, xè, xế, xê, and xẻ

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

(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, archived from the original on 2003-11-03:
  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, 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, Usenet‎, message-ID <7g74qb$8sq$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de>:
  Now full ownership in the modern sense... implies four rights of the owner: 1. The right to decide what xe does with xyr property; 2. the right to decide what others do with xyr property; […]
- 2000 December 11, Curtin, Mary Ellen, “Silencing and ad hominem attacks”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated, Usenet‎, message-ID <074d01c06393$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, 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

Anagrams

-ex, ex, ex-, ex.

Cypriot Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic أَخَذَ‎ (ʔaḵaḏa).

Verb

xe (present pkyaxo)

to take
to catch fire

Drehu

Etymology

Compare Xaragure sa (“hit”).

Verb

xe

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

hoarse

Noun

xe

bird

Verb

xe

to block so that it is not possible to pass / to prevent (something or someone) from passing
to catch (a ball)
to fill, to make full
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)

The name of the Latin script letter X/x.

Middle English

Pronoun

xe

(chiefly southern East Midland dialectal) Alternative form of sche

Paipai

Noun

xe

pot, kettle

Venetian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈze/

Verb

xe

third-person singular present indicative of èser
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／车 (“vehicle”, SV: xa). Compare hè and hạ, chè and trà.

Noun

(classifier chiếc; con) xe • (車)

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

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 Honda
xe hon đa
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 ôm
xe ô-tô
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)

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

Adjective

xe

(obsolete) many