Mx (usually pronounced , or and sometimes
) is an
English language honorific that does not indicate gender. Developed as an alternative to gendered honorifics (such as
Mr.
''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...
and
Ms.) in the late 1970s, it is the most common
gender-neutral title
A gender neutral title is a title that does not indicate the gender identity, whatever it may be, of the person being formally addressed. Honorifics are used in situations when it is inappropriate to refer to someone only by their first or last na ...
among
non-binary people and people who do not wish to imply a gender in their titles.
Etymology
The word was first proposed in the late 1970s.
The "x" is intended to stand as a
wildcard character, and does not necessarily imply a "mixed" gender.
Usage
In 2013,
Brighton and Hove City Council
Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...
in
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, England, voted to allow the use of Mx on council forms,
and in 2014 the
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...
included the title as an option for customers. In 2015, recognition spread more broadly across UK institutions, including the
Royal Mail
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, type = Public limited company
, traded_as =
, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
, government agencies responsible for documents such as
driving licences
A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...
, most
major banks, several other companies, and UK charity
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (now known as Battersea) is an animal rescue centre for dogs and cats. Battersea rescues dogs and cats until an owner or a new one can be found. It is one of the UK's oldest and best known animal rescue centres. It w ...
.
The title is now accepted by the
Department for Work and Pensions
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, logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg
, logo_width = 166px
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, preceding1 =
, jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom
, headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...
,
HM Revenue and Customs
HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
, the
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
and many councils, universities, insurance companies and utility retailers in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The
House of Commons of the United Kingdom confirmed in 2015 that it would accept the use of Mx by MPs.
In 2015, Mx was included in a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' article about
Bluestockings. Its casual usage in the paper was picked up by popular news sites and blogs. ''The Times's'' standards editor Phil Corbett later responded to the usage of the title. Later the same year, Mx was included in the ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
''. In 2016,
Metro Bank became the first bank in the United Kingdom to offer Mx on its forms (though other banks had amended records to Mx on request prior to this). In 2017, banks of the
HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tril ...
announced the addition of Mx alongside several other gender-neutral titles as options for their customers. HSBC's 30 March announcement coincided with the
International Transgender Day of Visibility
International Transgender Day of Visibility (often referred to as TDOV or Trans Day of Visibility) is an annual event occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender ...
, celebrated the following day.
In March 2021, Oscar Davies, a
non-binary barrister from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, became the first person to use "Mx" (instead of Mr/Ms) on the board of their
chambers.
Although Mx remains uncommon in the United States, in April 2016 it was added to the ''Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary''.
''Mixter'' is sometimes treated as a long form of the title (like ''Mister'' is of ''Mr'').
An informal study in 2019 found that 1.9% of the 896 participants worldwide pronounce it "Mixter" () while most pronounce it "Mix" () or "Məx" () (with a
schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English ...
).
Indian airlines
Vistara
Tata SIA Airlines Limited, operating as Vistara, is an Indian full-service airline, based in Gurugram, with its hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The carrier, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, commenced operat ...
and
AirAsia India
AirAsia India is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Bangalore (Bengaluru), Karnataka. The airline was a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Bhd. Tata Sons currently holds 100% stake in the airline, after AirAsia Bhd sold its ...
, both
Tata Group
The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continents ...
companies, added Mx as a third option for passengers booking flights from June 2022.
See also
*
Gender neutrality in English
Gender-neutral language is language that minimizes assumptions about the social gender or biological sex of people referred to in speech or writing. In contrast to most other Indo-European languages, English does not retain grammatical gender and m ...
*
Latinx
''Latinx'' is a neologism in American English which is used to refer to people of Latin American cultural or ethnic identity in the United States. The gender-neutral suffix replaces the ending of ''Latino'' and ''Latina'' that are typical o ...
*
Semantic gaps
References
Further reading
*
{{Social titles
Gender-neutral language
Honorifics
LGBT rights in the United Kingdom
Non-binary gender
1970s neologisms