Gender-Neutral Relationship Terms

Universal Gender-Neutral English ^ | 9/30/24 | Shawn Butler

[DallasBiff]

Human relationships are so easy, why shouldn’t the words for them be just as simple? English has words for numerous family relationships but, unfortunately for us, most of them are gendered. To solve this, we created a list of gender-neutral relationship terms (words and phrases) covering all major cases and based on Universal English. Some of these gender-neutral family terms will sound awesome, some won’t resonate at all but, as always, we’re open to suggestions. If you have better ideas, let me know.

Gender-Neutral Relationship Words

To a greater extent than other lists, I’ve included many suggested neutral (plain text) and Q/NB options (italics). This is largely to show the effort that has gone into finding or creating neutral terms, and the creativity that can be applied in a dynamic language. It also lets you see the difference between Universal English and other (less consistent but still valid) options.

This table is sorted by group, rather than alphabetically. Pair ordering follows the common convention of listing women first in most cases (e.g., mother and father, not father and mother).

Mother / Father

Huther or Parent

[Agatsu77]

What a pile of crap. Hahahahaha

[Clioman]

“this man should get a real job...”

:nodding in agreement:

[Organic Panic]

College is the only place to create such stupidity. The arrogance of these idiots that THEY know how to ‘correct’ human language to appease a bunch of mentally ill queers is astounding.