enby

• enbie

The noun is a pronunciation spelling of NB, an initialism of non-binary.^[1][2] The word was coined by the Tumblr user “revolutionator” in 2013 as “an nb equivalent to words like boys and girls”:^[3] see the quotation.

The adjective is derived from the noun.^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛnbi/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnbi
• Hyphenation: en‧by

enby (plural enbies)

1. (neologism, informal) Pronunciation spelling of NB (“a non-binary person; a person whose gender identity is not strictly female or male; one who is outside of the gender binary”). [from 2013]

   Synonym: (sometimes offensive) genderqueer

   • [2013 September 10, “revolutionator” [pseudonym], “02348294832908091 [page title]”, in Tumblr‎^[2], retrieved 21 May 2021:

     i wish there was an nb equivalent to words like boys and girls / nb / enby / enbies]

   • 2017 October, Will McCreath, “My Non-binary Wedding”, in Carrie Lyell, editor, Diva‎^[3], London: Twin Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 February 2023, page 18, column 3:

     I doubt most wedding fair vendors would recognise an enby even if you carried an explanatory sign.

   • 2018 June 27 – July 3, Dan Savage, “Savage Love”, in Julie Ann Grimm, editor, Santa Fe Reporter‎^[4], volume 45, number 26, Santa Fe, N.M.: Santa Fe Reporter, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 June 2023, page 28, column 1:

     So, boys and girls and enbies, if the sex isn't good at or very near the beginning, the passage of time and/or muttering of vows isn't going to fix it.

   • 2019, Claire G. Coleman, chapter 8, in The Old Lie, Sydney, N.S.W.: Hachette Australia, →ISBN:

     'Ladies and enbies,' she said, the five foot three height requirement for pilots continued to mean that nearly all the human fighter pilots she had ever met were women or enbies. She could see no evidence before her that anything had changed. 'You might have heard of me, my call sign is Romeo,' she paused while the pilots giggled and sniggered.

   • 2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, quoting Hasan Piker, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker‎^[5], →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 March 2025:

     He’d begun the day’s broadcast by rattling off a standard opening monologue: “Folks, we’re live and alive, and I hope all the boys, girls, and enbies”—nonbinary people—“are having a fantastic one.”

• femby
• galby
• girlby
• mascby
• womanby

• enbian
• enbyfriend
• enbyphobia
• enbyphobic

• → German: Enby

enby (not comparable)

1. (neologism, informal) Pronunciation spelling of NB (“non-binary; having or pertaining to a gender identity that is not strictly female or male, that is, outside of the gender binary”).

   Synonym: genderqueer

   • 2017, S. Bear Bergman, Meg-John Barker, “Non-binary Activism”, in Christina Richards, Walter Pierre Bouman, Meg-John Barker, editors, Genderqueer and Non-Binary Genders (Critical and Applied Approaches in Sexuality, Gender and Identity), London: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, part I (Societies), page 43:

     For non-binary-identified (or, to use my current favourite term, enby) people, this is magnified by the fact that while most of everyone except Germaine Greer and Donald Trump are prepared to recognise that trans people do exist these days, the enby population is still struggling up that hill with our glitter in the one hand and our neckties in the other.

   • 2018 May 14, Zoë Godden, “Interview: Saffron Kershaw-Mee”, in James Sproston, editor, The Courier‎^[6], number 1370, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Students’ Union, Newcastle University, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 August 2023, page 23, column 2:

     You've campaigned for non-binary and gender non-conforming people at Newcastle for a while now, including winning Campaign of the Year last year for your Beyond The Binary Week when you served as Marginalised Genders Officer, and appearing on BBC3's web shows. Would you consider yourself an enby BNOC [big name on campus]?

   • 2018 August, Peach Delosreyes-Yu, “A Stream of Consciousness on Self-Acceptance”, in Leif Tobias Gifford, editor, ENBY Magazine‎^[7], number 2, [Canada]: ENBY Magazine, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 May 2024, page 7, column 2:

     "As an enby transgxrl, and an enbie lesbian, the lesbian community needs to show [more] validation towards those who are both non-binary and lesbians. […] I know that I am valid as a lesbian so I just don't let those views affect me, and the enby community needs to be welcoming of nb lesbians a[s] well," says Evee Sams, a lesbian, polyamorous, agender, trans gxrl.

   • 2023 August 16, Darnell Mayberry, “Bulls Fest returns to celebrate basketball, culture and Chicago”, in The New York Times‎^[8], archived from the original on 30 June 2025:

     The Bulls also are welcoming SWISH, a BIPOC basketball meet-up group that provides a space for queer women, trans and enby (non-binary) players to feel held, seen and valued.

• non-binary gender on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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