Gendered English Words and Neutral Alternatives

Welcome to the ultimate guide to gendered English words and their gender-neutral alternatives. Why would you want such a list? That’s really up to you; this is not a political post or site—it’s a practical one related to my writing and writings. With that in mind I’ve developed a comprehensive gender-neutral standard English structure and vocabulary to solve practical, long-term technical problems with legal contracts, business documentation, fiction writing (including my own), politicized discourse and clear communication generally.

As such, there are two ways to use this list:

1. Embrace the full Humanist Gender-Neutral English (HGNE) standard, including gender-neutral prefixes and suffixes, OR
2. Just check out the list of gendered terms with their new and existing neutral alternatives.

What you get out of this is up to you, but my sincere hope is that this standard be adopted over time for all types of spoken and written communication, so we can all move onto other problems like, I don’t know, curing cancer. So…enjoy.

What’s in the List (and What’s Not)

One goal of this list (and each sub-list) is to provide enough detail and sufficient examples for clarity, but not much more. Another is to provide easy reference for most commonly used words or phrases. Beyond that, here’s what’s included or not:

What’s Included?

• Many modern / current words that are gendered by their nature and in current usage, meaning they might have a masculine or feminine prefix (e.g., manhandle), suffix (e.g., lawman), etc.—in other words, grammatically masculine and feminine nouns. This includes gendered job roles, within reason. There are nearly two-thousand such words, and listing them all would be pointless.
• A bias toward clarity, simplicity and universality—and avoiding the erasure of professions and identities to create false synonyms (e.g., a meteorologist and a weather person are not the same thing).
• Some words that display bias or even hate toward a gender, for reference and discussion (e.g., barren or impotent), even if gender neutrality isn’t really the point.
• Some words that don’t have or don’t need gender-neutral alternatives, largely for discussion (e.g., spinster, cuckhold) that we could be better off just not using.

What’s Excluded?

• Most words that are not intrinsically gendered, even if their application tends to be (e.g., bossy). These words or phrases relate to political rather than grammatical or linguistic neutrality, which is perfectly legitimate, but not the focus of this standard.
• All (possibly) politically adjacent terminology (e.g., words relating to LGBTQIA+ people that you shouldn’t use for other reasons), which largely deal with application rather than nature. There are many other words you should omit to avoid being a jerk, which is great, but again not the focus of this article. However, I’ve also tried to avoid alternative terminology used by the queer community for similar reasons, even if the word might otherwise be a cool neutral option.
• Archaic and less common words. This list is meant to be sufficiently comprehensive to make usage clear and show how the standard works, not to make a list of every gendered English word that anyone has ever used. But if you think a word has been erroneously omitted, let me know.

For more background, check out the full guide to New Humanist Gender Neutral English, the ‘standard’ that is applied to everything below.

For the most part, definitions, discussion and other details are left for a separate article, but in some cases explanation might be required—and is then provided at the end of each list.

What Might Offend or Trigger…Someone

I mean, who knows, but a few things are worth noting:

• The word or phrase in the first column of each list is usually the most common gendered form, often defaulting to male for ease of reference, but is not meant to imply anything; it’s just that most of the words that need neutralizing are male in current usage.
• Some intrinsically political words (e.g., mansplain) are included for thoroughness, but I can easily see why some would object to offering a neutral term at all. Which is fine; just skip past those sections and move along. I’m not making a political statement, but I’m also not going to omit things to favor one group or another.
• Gender neutral language is not just about any one group of people or being politically correct, so even if you’re on the far right, it’s useful to have neutral language for business and legal agreements. This doesn’t have to be political. Think ‘making capitalism more efficient.’

Of course, if I get anything truly wrong, I’d love to hear about it.

And now, this list!

List of Gendered English Words

The following list of gendered words and their neutral alternatives is broken into several smaller lists for readability and context. This includes initial lists defining the base gender-neutral English standard root nouns and affixes (prefixes or suffixes). You can skip these if you’re just interested in the lists of gendered nouns. These new words and affixes are then applied in later tables to create gender-neutral options.

Gender-Neutral List Key

What kind of list needs a key? Well, this one. So here we go:

• Humanist Gender-Neutral English (HGNE) standard words and phrases are shown in bold green italics, largely so this list is accessible to those with color-related challenges.
• Common alternative words that are inappropriate or misleading (for this standard) are shown in red strikethrough. Generally but not always, the bold green words are meant to replace the red strikethrough ones. Some words that are not recommended for other reasons (e.g., being unnecessary) are shown in regular strikethrough. The color distinction shouldn’t matter for those who can’t see red.
• If there are two or more plausible neutral terms, the suggested default is shown in bold with a (D). Often, as when gendered words continue to be useful or appropriate options, there is no default.
• If you see ‘TBD’, this means there isn’t yet an obvious solution, but suggestions are welcome.
• In general, the solution provided applies to all forms of a word (singular, plural, verb, adjective, noun, etc.), but in some cases examples are provided for clarity.

So, enough preamble. Let’s get started…

Gendered English Pronouns

This covers pronouns such as he / she / him / her, etc., where the pronoun root ‘hu’ is used as the foundation for all neutral pronouns. This is derived from (and pronounced like) humans in order to be unifying, non-gendered and humanist.

Condition (Pronoun is)	Singular Pronouns	Plural Pronouns
Subject	He She Hu They * It	They
Object	Him Her Hum Them * It	Them
Possessive	His / His Hers / Her Hus / Hus Their / Theirs * Its / Its	Their / Theirs

See the HGNE standard for pronouns for more details on background, usage, etc.

(*) They. The pronoun ‘they’ is shown in singular forms for obvious reasons, and is encouraged for individual use in personal identification as desired (along with any other personally preferred pronoun), but is discouraged for general communication where hu can be used (with less numerical ambiguity).

Gendered Nouns & Affixes (Base)

This refers to the use of man / woman / boy / girl / etc. as a noun or affix. Use instead ‘hom‘ as a neutral alternative for adult man or woman, as both noun and affix, where appropriate. This is derived from hominid (our primate family), and also alludes to the unifying prefix hum-in humanity. For similar reasons, use ‘hem‘ in place of boy or girl, and ‘-um’ in place of other gendered suffixes (e.g., -ess).

Noun	Singular	Plural
Adult	Man Woman Hom	Men Women Homs
	+ Adult, Person, Human, etc.	+ Adults, Persons, People, Humans, etc.
Child	Boy Girl Hem	Boys Girls Hems
	+ Child, Kid, Teenager, Tween, Baby, Infant, Toddler, etc.	+ Children, Kids, Teenagers, Tweens, Babies, Infants, Toddlers, etc.
Alternative Suffix	NA (*) -ess / -ette / -ina / -ix -um	NA (*) -esses / -ettes / -inas / -ix -ums

See the HGNE standard for hom/homs, hem/hems and um/ums for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

(*) NA (Male Suffixes). While many, many words can be regarded as masculine historically by their suffix (e.g., the -or in actor), the trend now is to make these terms gender-neutral, ignore the historical gender, and stop using the legacy female version (e.g., actress. This makes life far simpler, and results in far fewer gendered words, so we follow that standard where possible.

Nouns Gendered by -Man or -Woman (Adult)

This list includes words or phrases where ‘man’ or ‘woman’ follow another word, even if not technically as a suffix (e.g., common man, odd man out, etc.).

Note that the use of ‘-hom’ might not always be the right or only gender-neutral solution; where possible, it’s strongly suggested we just use an existing generic term and get rid of extraneous gendered options (e.g., just use actor, always, and never actress). Some guidelines:

• This standard avoids the use of ‘person’ or ‘people’ as gender-neutral terms if possible, as it’s less human and familiar than -man, -woman or -hom, but of course both remain options as desired.
• The ‘-hom‘ form is always available as an option, in case you don’t like another suggested neutral term (if there is one) or you can’t remember any other option (e.g., when public speaking or mid-conversation).

Note that most of these nouns are job roles, but nowhere near all job roles are shown (e.g., you could make a job role for anything like, say, ice cream, by calling someone an ice cream man), and you can generally figure out how to apply the standard regardless. According to the Free Dictionary, there are 1,554 words ending in -man and 132 words ending in woman. All of them can be made neutral by using –hom.

Word or Phrase	Singular	Plural
Anchor (News)	Anchorman Anchorwoman Anchorhom Anchor	-men -women -homs Anchors
Assemblyman	Assemblyman Assemblywoman Assemblyhom Assemblyperson	-men -women -homs -persons, -people
Businesswoman	Businessman Businesswoman Businesshom Businessperson	-men -women -hom -person, -people
Cameraman	Cameraman Camerawoman Camerahom (D) Cameraperson	-men -women – homs (D) -persons
Chairwoman	Chairman Chairwoman Chairhom (D) Chair Chairperson	-men -women -homs (D) Chairs -persons, -people
Common Man	Common Man Common Woman Common Hom Common Person	– Men – Women – Homs -Persons, -People
Clergyman	Clergyman Clergywoman Clergyhom Minister Pastor	-men -women -homs Ministers Pastors
Congresswoman	Congressman Congresswoman Congresshom Congressperson	-men -women -homs -persons, -people
Construction Man (1)	Construction Man Construction Woman Construction Hom (D) Construction Worker	– Men – Women – Homs (D) – Workers
Councilman	Councilman Councilwoman Councilhom Councilperson	-men -women -homs -persons
Craftsman	Craftsman Craftswoman Craftshom Craftsperson Artisan	-men -women -homs -persons, -people – Artisans
Crew Woman	Crewman Crew Woman Crewhom (D) Crew Member Crew Person	-men -women -homs (D) – Members -Persons, People
Doorman	Doorman Door Woman Doorhom Door Keeper Attendant	-men -Women -homs – Keepers (D) -Attendants
Firefighter	Fireman Firewoman Firehom Firefighter	-men -women -homs -fighters (D)
Freshman (1)	Freshman Freshwoman Fresh Hom (D) First Year	-men -women – Homs (D) -First Years
Fisherwoman	Fisherman Fisherwoman Fisherhom	-men -women -homs
Foreman	Foreman Forewoman Forehom Supervisor, Boss	-men -women -homs Supervisors, Bosses
Garbageman	Garbageman Garbagewoman Garbagehom Garbage Collector	-men -women -homs -Collectors
Handywoman	Handyman Handywoman Handyhom Maintenance Person, Fixer	-men -women -homs – Persons, Fixers
Layman	Layman Laywoman Layhom	-men -women -homs
Longshoreman	Longshoreman Longshore Woman Longshorehom Stevedore	-men -women -homs Stevedores
Mailwoman	Mailman Mailwoman Mailhom Mail Carrier (D) Postal Worker	-men -women -homs – Carriers (D) Postal Workers
Maintenance Man	Maintenance Man Maintenance Woman Maintenance Hom Janitor	– Men – Women – Homs Janitors
Odd Man Out	Odd Man Out Odd Woman Out Odd Hom Out (D) Odd Person Out	– Men – – Women – – Homs – (D) – People –
Policewoman	Policeman Policewoman Policehom Police Officer (D)	-men -women -homs – Officers (D)
Postman	Postman Postwoman Posthom Postal Worker (D)	-men -women -homs – Workers (D)
Saleswoman	Salesman Saleswoman Sales Hom Salesperson	-men -woman – Homs –persons
Stuntman	Stuntman Stuntwoman Stunt Hom Stuntperson	-men -woman – Homs -persons
Weatherman	Weatherman Weatherwoman Weatherhom Meteorologist	-men -women -homs Meteorologists

See the HGNE standard (hom/homs) for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

(1) Suffix vs. Separate Word. By convention, if the what’s being replaced is a separate word (e.g, construction man) then the replacement is also a separate word (construction hom). This is also true for suffixes if preceded by a T or S, as in freshman, where freshhom or freshom might be confusing.

Nouns Gendered by Other Suffixes (Adult)

This covers cases where -man-or -woman is not the gendering suffix. Use “–um” or “-ums” for any such words (e.g., ending -ess, -ette) to create a non-gendered alternative. Or, if easier, just eliminate unnecessary gender distinction.

Word	Singular	Plural
Alum (1)	Alumnus Alumna Alumnum	Alumni (D) Alumni (Alumnae) Alumni
Actor	Actor (D) Actress Actrum	Actors (D) Actresses Actrums
Author	Author (D) Authoress Authum	Authors (D) Authoresses Authums
Aviator	Aviator (D) Aviatrix Aviatrum	Aviators (D) Aviatrix Aviatrums
Bachelor (1)	Bachelor Bachelorette (Spinster) Bachelum	Bachelors Bachelorettes (Spinsters) Bachelums
Baron	Baron Baroness Baronum	Baron Baroness Baronums
Comedian	Comedian (D) Comedienne Comedium	Comedians (D) Comediennes Comediums
Count	Count Countess Countum	Count Countess Countums
Czar	Czar Czarina Czarum	Czars Czarinas Czarums
Duke	Duke Duchess Duchum	Dukes Duchess Duchums
Emerit (1)	Emeritus Emerita Emerit Emeritum	Emeriti Emeriti (Emeritae) Emeriti Emeritums
Emperor	Emperor Empress Emperum	Emperors Empresses Emperums
Flight Attendant	Steward Stewardess Flight Attendant (D) Stewardum	Stewards Stewardesses Flight Attendants (D) Stewardums
God	God (D) Goddess Godum	God (D) Goddesses Godums
Heir	Heir (D) Heiress Heirum	Heirs (D) Heiresses Heirums
Hero	Hero (D) Heroine Herum	Heroes (D) Heroines Herums
Host	Host (D) Hostess Hostum	Hosts (D) Hostesses Hostums
Landlord (2)	Landlord Landlady Landlodum	Landlords Landladies Landlodums
Latino (3)	Latino Latina Latinum Latinx	Latinos Latinas Latinums Latinxs
Manager	Manager (D) Manageress Managerum	Managers (D) Manageresses Managerums
Misogyny	Misandry/ist Misogyny/ist Misanthropy/ist	Misandries/ists Misogynies/ists Misanthropies/ists
Poet	Poet (D) Poetess Poetum	Poets (D) Poetesses Poetums
Prince (4)	Prince Princess Princum	Princes Princesses Pincums
Usher	Usher (D) Usherette Usherum	Ushers (D) Usherettes Usherums
Waiter	Waiter Waitress Waitrum Waitron Server	Waiters Waitresses Waitrums Waitrons Servers
Widow	Widower Widow Widum + Surviving Spouse	Widowers Widows Widums + Surviving Spouse

See the HGNE standard (um/ums) for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

(1) Latin Words. For these words, ‘-um’ fits naturally as a singular suffix, but ‘-ums’ will likely offend the Latin purist. Sorry? Better ideas welcome.

(2) Landlord. Lodum is the suggested gender-neutral alternative, because this is the new word for Lord/Lady as titles. See Other Gendered Words for details.

(3) Latino. If needed, Latinum is suggested in place of Latinx, but honestly this should be left to Latinos/Latinas to come up with a preferred solution, if any. So think of this as a place keeper that fits the standard.

(4) Prince. The C in the Princum gender-neutral word here is pronounced like an S, to avoid confusion with an existing word and for consistency.

Nouns Gendered by Prefix (Adult)

These are words and phrases gendered by prefixes man / woman / matron / patron / etc. There are some controversial entries in this list, I imagine, but keep in mind that the goal is gender neutrality. There are some who will want to hang onto the gendered form of a given word for political reasons, and of course that is their prerogative.

Word or Phrase	Singular	Plural
Fraternal	Fraternal Sororal TBD	NA
Fraternity	Fraternity Sorority TBD + Panhel	Fraternities Sororities TBD + Panhels
History (1)	History (D) Herstory Hustory Hxstory	Histories (D) Herstories Hustories Hxstories
Manhandle	Manhandle – Homhandle (D)	NA
Man-hour	Man-hour Woman-hour Hom-hour (D)	Man-hours Woman-hours Hom-hours (D)
Manhunt	Manhunt Womanhunt Homhunt (D) Hunt	Manhunts Womanhunts Homhunts (D) Hunts
Womankind	Mankind Womankind Homkind Humankind	NA
Man-made	Man-made Woman-made Hom-made	NA
	– Artificial, synthetic, machine-made
Manpower	Manpower Womanpower Hompower Labor, Work	NA
Manservant	Manservant Womanservant Homservant Servant (D)	Manservants Womanservants Homservants Servants (D)
Manslaughter (2)	Manslaughter – Homslaughter (D)	NA
Mansplain (3)	Mansplain/ing/er Femsplain/ing/er Homsplain/ing/er	Mansplain/ing/ers Femsplain/ing/ers Homsplain/ing/ers
Manspread (4)	Manspread/ing/er Femspread/ing/er Homspread/ing/er	Manspread/ing/ers Femspread/ing/ers Homspread/ing/ers
Feminine	Masculine Feminine TBD + Non-Binary, Fluid, etc.	NA
Matron (Older Woman)	– Matron –	– Matrons –
Matronize (5) (Make Matronly)	– Matronize –	NA
Parental	Paternal Maternal Parental	Paternal Maternal Parental
Patriarch	Patriarch/al/y Matriarch/al/y Homtriarch/al/y	Patriarchs Matriarchs Homtriarch/al/y
Patron (6) (Sponsor)	Patron Patrones TBD	Patrons Patronesses TBD
Patronage	Patronage Matronage Hom	NA
Patronizing (7) (Condescending)	Patronizing Matronizing Homtronizing + Condescending, Belittling	NA
Romantic Partner	Man Friend Woman Friend Hom Friend + Partner, Significant Other	Man Friends Woman Friends Hom Friends + Partners, Significant Others
Womanize	Manize/er/ing Womanize/er/ing Homanize/er/ing	Manizers Womanizers Homanizers

See the HGNE standard (hom/homs) for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

(1) History. It’s a myth that the ‘his’ is history comes from anything gendered, or means ‘his story’; his, in this case, has nothing to do with the male pronoun, so gendering it makes as much sense as saying the ‘his’ in histolysis or Hispanic comes from the male pronoun. History is gender neutral already, but if you want to make a political point, gendered and neutral options are shown (but discouraged).

(2) Manslaughter. This a legal term and not easily changed, so manslaughter is with us for a while, standard or not.

(3) Mansplain. This refers to a (predominantly) male habit of talking down to women, even when those women know more than they do on a topic; however, it is not entirely done by men, and thus the alternative femsplain has entered the language (even if mostly reactionarily). Homsplain is thus suggested as a general term for those speaking condescendingly to others based on gender stereotypes or other misconceptions.

(4) Manspread. Referring to men spreading their legs to take up (too much) space in public, homspread is offered as a neutral alternative to cover anyone taking up too much public space in any way (physically, vocally, etc.).

(5/7) Matronize/ing / Patronizing. These words don’t mean the same thing, so are not male / female counterparts. Matronizing (condescending, not making matronly) is sometimes used as the female version of patronizing (condescending, not shopping), and Homtronizing is offered as a general analog to being condescending.

(6) Patron (Patronage). This refers to being a sponsor of or customer of a person or business (various forms), and has no existing female or neutral equivalent.

Nouns Gendered by Affix (Children)

Many words describing children are gendered by boy / girl just as they are for adults with man / woman. In the case of children (of any age), -boy and -girl are replaced by the gender-neutral ‘hem‘ to create a  neutral term.

Word or Phrase	Singular	Plural
Boy Toy	Boy Toy Girl Toy Hem Toy Plaything	Boy Toys Girl Toys Hem Toys Playthings
Girl Boss (1)	Boss (D) Girl Boss	Bosses (D) Girl Bosses
Cabin Boy	Cabin Boy Cabin Girl Cabin Hem	-Boys -Girls – Hems
Girl Friday	Boy Friday Girl Friday Hem Friday	Boys Friday Girls Friday Hems Friday
Romantic Partner	Boyfriend Girlfriend Hemfriend + Partner, Significant Other	Boyfriends Girlfriends Hemfriends + Partners. Significant Others, etc.

See the HGNE standard (hem/hems) for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

(1) Girl Boss. This will of course continue to be used, although increasingly cheugy and counterproductive.

Other Gendered Words and Phrases

These are gendered words that are do not include boy / girl / man, woman or other common affixes, or they’re different in some other way. This is by no means a complete list, but hopefully covers enough to clarify usage. It’s certainly a hot mess.

Word or Phrase	Singular	Plural
Gendered Relationships
Child	Son Daughter Child	Sons Daughters Children
Grandparent	Grandfather Grandmother Grandparent	Grandfather Grandmother Grandparent
Marital Partner	Husband Wife Spouse + (Life) Partner, Significant Other	Husbands Wives Spouses + (Life) Partners, Significant Others
Parent	Father / Dad Mother / Mom Parent	Fathers / Dads Mothers / Moms Parents
Parental ()	Paternal Maternal Parental	Paternal Maternal Parental
Parental Sibling XXX	Uncle AuntAuncle Pibling + Zizi, Bibi, Nini, Titi Not Solved	Uncles AuntsAuncle + Pibling Not Solved
Sibling	Brother Sister Sibling	Brothers Sisters Siblings
Sibling-hood	Brotherhood Sisterhood Siblinghood	Brotherhoods Sisterhoods Siblinghoods
Sibling Child XXX	Nephew Niece – +Nibling, Niephling, Chibling, Sibkid, etc.	Nephews Nieces – Niblings
Gendered Job Roles & Titles
Bride	Bride Groom TBD + Marrier, Celebrant	Brides Brooms TBD + Marriers, Celebrants
King	King Queen TBD + Quing, Majesty?	Kings Queens TBD + Quings, Majesties?
Lord (1)	Lord Lady Lodum + Liege	Lords Ladies Lodums + Lieges
Midwife	TBD Midwife TBD	TBD Midwives TBD
Master	Master Mistress Maistrum + Mastress	Masters Mistresses Maistrums + Mastresses
Nurse	Murse? Nurse Nurse / TBD	Murses? Nurses Nurses / TBD
Wizard	Warlock, Wizard Witch, Wizard Witch, Wizard + Sorcerer, Magician, etc.	Warlocks, Wizards Witches, Wizards Witches, Wizards + Sorcerers, Magicians, etc.
Gendered Groups
Dude / Guy (1)	Dude / Guy Chick / Gals Homie	Dudes / Guys Chicks / Gals Homies
	+ Thude	+ Thudes, Folks, People, Humans, Everyone / Everybody, Y’all, Peeps, etc.
Ladies & Gentlemen	Gentleman Lady Adhom + Guest, Distinguished Guest, etc.	Gentlemen Ladies Adhoms + Everyone, Guests, Distinguished Guests, etc.
Other including Insults & Profanity
Sterile	Sterile Infertile Barren, Infecund	Sterile Sterile (Infertile) Sterile
Cuckhold	Cuckhold	NA
Impotent (as Powerless)	Impotent	Powerless
Jerk	Douche / Dick / Cock + Bitch / Cunt / Pussy +	Asshole Jerk + Many Others
Bastard	Bastard	NA

See the HGNE standard (special cases) for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

Gendered Honorifics

This list is for words used to acknowledge a title or confer respect, though the titles are nouns (e.g. King / Queen) listed elsewhere.

Word	Singular	Plural
Mr. / Ms.	Mr. Ms. (Mrs. / Miss) Mu. Mx.	NA
Sir / Madam (1)	Sir Ma’am / Madam Adhom	Sirs Ma’ams / Madams Adhoms

See the HGNE standard (honorifics) for more details on background, usage, pronunciation, etc.

(1) Adhom. As a neutral alternative to Sir or Ma’am, Adhom is suggested by combining “ad” with “hom” to give the word a sense of elevation and formality, kind of like admiration (not speaking etymologically). There is to the best of knowledge no other alternative in usage. Adhom sounds a bit like ad hominem, but I doubt that’s a major issue, and given the identical pronunciation, it might even be helpful.

(+) Royal Honorifics. To the best of my knowledge, Your Highness, Holiness, Honor, Grace, Lordship, Majesty and Worship and most such honorifics are gender neutral (except Lordship). More on this TBD.

Gender-Neutral Language Resources

This is a work in progress, but for now, this is what’s available on this site:

• Humanist Gender Neutral Language (HGNE, The Standard)
• Gender-Neutral English Words and their Alternatives
• Gender-Neutral Glossary & Discussion (Coming eventually)

What’s Next?

First, if you have any questions, comments or criticisms, please let me know in the comments below. All civilized input welcome. Second, if you agree this new humanist (gender neutral and inclusive English) can be useful, promote it. Put it in practice. Send others here to learn and engage. And thank you.

Peace