Noam answers “Hi, I am on page 51 of this book. And I am...”

Amanda asked this question about Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1):

Hi, I am on page 51 of this book. And I am coming across the words "xe" and "xir", are they pronouced as or mean "he" and "her"?

Noam Xe/xir/xirs is a semi-common set of third-gender pronouns. I've always heard them with a z sound (like xylophone, as Logan said), and rhyming with "sh…moreXe/xir/xirs is a semi-common set of third-gender pronouns. I've always heard them with a z sound (like xylophone, as Logan said), and rhyming with "she" or "he" and "her" or "sir", particularly by people who use those pronouns, and others in the trans community. I've seen it spelled with X or with Z.

On the audiobook, they're pronounced like "shea" (as in shea butter) and "sheer", but I've never heard those pronunciations outside of this audiobook, and I suspect the narrator for Nara's sections just wasn't familiar with the usual pronunciation.(less)

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