Z

ZE/ZIR, ZE/HIR — A gender neutral pronoun, alternatively spelled “zie.”

Anyone can use ze pronouns—the use of gender neutral pronouns does not necessarily indicate anything about the user’s gender.

Ze is derived from the earlier neutral pronoun “sie” and “hir,” which fell out of use because they lean toward feminine: “sie” and “hir” mean “she” in German and Middle English, respectively.

Ze is used with “hir” (pronounced like “here”) or “zir,” as in ze/hir/hirs, or ze/zir/zirs:

Ze smiled	I called hir	Hir phone rang	That’s hirs	Ze likes hirself
Ze smiled	I called zir	Zir phone rang	That’s zirs	Ze likes zirself
Zie laughed	I hugged hir	Hir dog jumped	That’s hirs	Zie likes hirself
Zie laughed	I hugged zir	Zir dog jumped	That’s zirs	Zie likes zirself

ZIE — see: ZE/ZIR.

ZIR — see: ZE/ZIR.

ZUCCHINI — A non-romantic noun to describe someone you’re in an intimate, non-sexual relationship with.

Zucchini started as a joke term in the aromantic and asexual communities in the 2000s to highlight how there are no appropriate terms for describing significant, intimate relationships and love which are not romantic or sexual. The creation of zucchini shows a frustration with amatonormativity, or the assumption that romantic and sexual relationships are universally desired and the most important intimate bonds we form.

Zucchini is an alternative to “friend,” which suggests a ceiling on intimacy, and “partner,” which implies a romantic or sexual relationship. It’s used by some queerplatonic partners to describe each other as in: “Ronald is my zucchini.”