Current Affairs

The Oxford English Dictionary now includes ambisexual, asexual, bi-gender and trans*

Apr 03 2018
Written by Josh Jackman

1.7 percent of sexual minority people in the US identify as asexual. (Robert Perry/ Getty)

The Oxford English Dictionary has added trans*, ambisexual, asexual and bi-gender to its lexicon.

Trans* is perhaps the most overdue addition, considering that the trans umbrella term has been in use for decades at this point.

The OED definition of trans* states that it was “originally used to include explicitly both transsexual and transgender, or (now usually) to indicate the inclusion of gender identities such as gender-fluid, agender, etc., alongside transsexual and transgender.”

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 23: Hundreds protest a Trump administration announcement this week that rescinds an Obama-era order allowing transgender students to use school bathrooms matching their gender identities, at the Stonewall Inn on February 23, 2017 in New York City. Activists and members of the transgender community gathered outside the historic LGTB bar to denounce the new policy. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Asexual is another word which has been in the public consciousness for a long while.

The Asexual Visibility and Education Network was founded in 2001, and the term originated years before then.

The OED defines the term as being “without sexual feelings or associations.”

Ambisexual is a less commonly used term, but has risen in popularity as a word for people who are, as the OED puts it, “bisexual or androgynous.”

(Getty)

And as the dictionary notes, the word originated in the 1930s, so it’s hardly a new fad.

According to the OED, bi-gender, another word added to the dictionary today, is “denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity encompasses two genders.”

Last year, Merriam-Webster revealed that back when homosexuality was illegal, trans rights were unheard of and gender was widely presumed to be completely binary, it was going against the grain.

Merriam-Webster’s unabridged dictionary of 1934 featured the gender-neutral pronoun “thon” – short for “that one” – and continued to include the word until 1961.

In an article on its site, the dictionary also gently rebuked those who make “one of the most common complaints” about English, pointing out gender-neutral pronouns exist in its pages.

Earlier this year, Japan’s leading dictionary added a definition of LGBT for the first time, but got it slightly wrong, defining the term as “people who have different sexual orientations from the majority.”