Dictionary.com Adds ‘Gay Marry’ and A Bunch of Other Queer Phrases to Their Official List

September 14, 2023
TOMMY

Every year, the folx over at Dictionary.com add new entries to their list of officially accepted words and phrases. The additions usually stem from zeitgeisty slang that have become so pervasive in our way of talking that they have earned their rightful spot in the dictionary. Additions from recent years include "Queerbaiting", "unfriended", "anti-masker", "whataboutism", and "thirsty" (as a sexual descriptor) just to name a few. And this year, the list got even Queerer! Here are some of our favorite of the new Queer additions.

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Gay Marry: verb. to marry a person of the same gender.

Amalgagender: adjective. noting or relating to a person whose gender identity is linked to or impacted by the fact that they are intersex.

Stealth: adjective. (of a transgender person) living as a cisgender member of one’s identified gender, without revealing that one is transgender.

Polysexual: adjective. noting or relating to a person who is sexually attracted to people of various genders, but not necessarily to people of all genders.

Polyromantic: adjective. noting or relating to a person who is romantically attracted to people of various genders, but not necessarily to people of all genders.

Autosexual: adjective. noting or relating to a person who primarily feels sexual attraction to and desire for themselves, as opposed to other people.

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In addition to these new words and phrases, Dictionary.com has also made the move towards gender-neutral wording as a general rule. K.E. Callaway, the lexicographer for Dictionary.com, wrote on the company's website that it was decidedly a move towards a more inclusive approach to language. "On the inclusivity side, ‘his or her does’ not include people who use other pronouns," Callaway wrote. “In terms of usage, ‘they’ is simply much more common as a generic pronoun than he or she, including in spoken and all but the most formal types of written English."

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Callaway also noted that this is by no means a new trend, and acknowledged the historical precedence for the gender-neutral wording. "This has been the case for decades (even though people rarely notice it in speech)." Callaway wrote. "By making this change, we have made our entries more similar to how people actually speak and write, hopefully making the entries more natural-sounding — and thus more accessible to readers."

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One of the things the internet has been so incredible for is allowing us to witness the evolution of our species in real-time. Everything is documented; everything is preserved. And watching the process by which our language evolves is a perfect example of seeing those changes in real-time. It's reassuring to know that while some people are trying to ban Queer books, the people who preserve the words we use are making sure Queer people stay represented.