Pronoun

"We must remember that the English pronoun system is not fixed. Several centuries ago the objective plural you drove the nominative and objective singulars thou and thee and the nominative plural ye out of general use. It appears to have happened for social reasons, not linguistic reasons. They, their, them have been used continuously for six centuries, and have been disparaged in such use for about two centuries."

- Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, 1994

A pronoun (abbreviated pro or prn) is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. For transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people, choosing a preferred pronoun may be a very important part of gender presentation and how that person perceives their gender.

The adjective associated with "pronoun" is "pronominal". A pronominal is also a word or phrase that acts as a pronoun. For example, in That's not the one I need, the phrase the one is a pronominal.

Personal gender pronouns may be called "preferred" pronouns, but this phrasing can imply that using someone's pronouns is optional, and has fallen out of use.

Grammar
Pronouns (antōnymía) are listed as one of eight parts of speech in The Art of Grammar, a treatise on Greek grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax and dating from the 2nd century BC. The pronoun is described there as "a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person." Pronouns continued to be regarded as a part of speech in Latin grammar (the Latin term being pronomen, from which the English name – through Middle French – ultimately derives), and thus in the European tradition generally.

In more modern approaches, pronouns are less likely to be considered to be a single word class, because of the many different syntactic roles that they play, as represented by the various different types of pronouns listed in the previous sections.

Personal and possessive
Personal pronouns may be classified by person, number, gender and case. English has three persons (first, second and third) and two numbers (singular and plural). Most commonly recognized in the third person singular, there are also distinct pronoun forms for male, female and neutral gender.

English pronouns have a number of different contexts:

List of pronouns
See main article: Pronoun/List

Exipronouns
Main article: Exipronoun Exipronouns refer to "traditional" pronouns in a given language, and the term was coined as a complement to the word neopronoun.

Neopronouns
Main article: Neopronoun Neopronouns are any set of singular, third person pronouns that are not officially recognized in a given language, typically created with the intent of being a gender neutral pronoun set.

Nounself
Main article: Nounself Nounself pronouns are a subset of neopronouns that are more directly based on words, often nouns.

Emojiself
Main article: Emojiself Emojiself pronouns are a subset of neopronouns and nounself pronouns that replace the content of the pronoun entirely with an emoji.

Misgendering
See main article: Misgendering Using the incorrect pronouns for someone, when you are aware of their pronouns, is misgendering. Misgendering is an act of erasure and transphobia, which has been linked to mental health struggles and suicide. The U.S. Transgender Survey states that 54% of those living with unsupportive families, where their family members may misgender them, had attempted suicide within their lifetime. 37% of those with supportive families had attempted suicide at some point of their lives.

"Because names and pronouns are the two ways people call and refer to others, they are personal and important. They are also key facets of our identity. Therefore, calling someone by the wrong name or “misgendering” them by using incorrect pronouns can feel disrespectful, harmful and even unsafe."

- Let’s Get It Right: Using Correct Pronouns and Names "According to the World Health Organization, violence is referred to as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” When someone intentionally misgenders a transgender person, it can be noted as psychological abuse. Misgendering is dehumanizing; when you purposefully disregard someone’s gender, simply because they are not like you, it can lead to mental and physical harm."

- Intentionally Misgendering Transgender People is Considered Violence

Flags
Like other parts of a person's identity, such as their gender or orientation (or even their kink or disability), flags may be made specifically for pronouns. Unlike other facets of queer identity, pronoun flags at large don't follow any real common convention. Flags for pronouns vary wildly in design, number of stripes, and symbols used. A pronoun flag format called "pronoun path" is used by Tumblr user mothpride. This refers to a specific design of flag that uses two overlapping stripes, with each flag being unaligned with any identity, just pronouns. The first example of this format being used was posted November 10th, 2020, and the term "pronoun path" was first used in another post the same day.

In 2021, Ezgender designed a proposed "standard pronoun template" and released a free online template for it.