Ze/Mer

Ze/mer, or Zemself, are a gender neutral neopronouns pronoun set. Anyone can use this pronoun set regardless of gender Identity or gender expression.

How To Use

Case	Pronoun	Example
Nominative	Ze	Ze went to the store
Accusative	Mer	I met mer today
Pronominal Possessive	Zer	Ze walked zer dog today
Predicative Possessive	Zers	If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow zers
Reflexive	Zemself	Ze has to drive zemself to school

History

The ze/mer pronouns set were first proposed by Richard E. Creel in 1997. Creel taught Philosophy and Religion at Ithaca College, New York and wanted a way to refer to those without a gender, such as gods and other beings, without using “he” or “she”. Creel proposed the nongendered pronouns of “ze”, “zer,” and “mer”. In explaining the choice of lettering for these pronouns, Creel said, "'Mer' is a blend of the last letter of 'him' and the last two letters of 'her'; 'ze' is a blend of 'she' and 'he' ('se,' with a modification to be explained); 'ze' is a blend of "his" and 'her' ('ser,' with a modification to be explained). 'Z' has been substituted for the 's' in 'se' and 'ser' to avoid such homophones as 'see' and 'sea' in the case of 'se' and 'sir' in the case of 'ser.'" Creel did not state the reflexive form of this pronoun.

In coining this set of pronouns (but, notably, forms of ze and zer have existed prior, ze, for example, dating to 1864), Creel said, “To capture in language the richness of actuality and possibility, we need nongendered personal pronouns that refer indifferently to persons whether they are female, male, or-as in the case of God, some angels, and perhaps extra-terrestrials-none of the above.”