Nearlywed to abrosexual: new dating terms added to dictionary - Cosmopolitan UK - Dictionary

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Situatationships, cuffing season, ghosting, benching, zombieing, the terminology around modern dating and relationships is an ever-changing whirlwind. Honestly, even we struggle to keep up (what the hell is a ‘ben phase’?).

Luckily, very smart people are keeping track of how our language is evolving and what this means for us as a society.

Dictionary.com’s latest update – reflecting some of the most important additions from last winter – had 313 new words and definitions, and the words relating to sex, gender, dating and identity all seem to have a key theme; we’re all about ambiguity, fluidity, and being in-between (even ‘liminal space’ made the cut).

“Our mission is to be descriptive—we work to describe and document language as it is really used (not just how we or others may want it to be used),” writes Nick Norle, Senior Editor of Dictionary.com.

The inclusion of words like ‘Nearlywed’ (a person who lives with another in a life partnership – with or without plans of marriage) and ‘abrosexual’ (a person whose sexual orientation is fluid or fluctuates over time) and 'multisexual' (a person who is sexually or romantically attracted to people of more than one gender) reflect a understanding of identity and relationships that embraces fluidity and the validity ways of approaching relationships beyond traditional structures.

‘Queerbaiting’ has also been included for the first time and is defined as “a marketing technique involving intentional homoeroticism or suggestions of LGBTQ+ themes intended to draw in an LGBTQ+ audience, without explicit inclusion of openly LGBTQ+ relationships, characters, or people” - something Harry Styles, Matt Healy and Billie Eilish have all been accused of in the past. However, there’s no reference to the fact that people not wanting to label their gender, or sexuality is not queerbaiting and accusing people of doing so could be damaging for everyone. Remember when Kit Connor was forced to come out as bisexual after Heartstopper fans accused him of queerbaiting?

Even the definition of ‘sex’ has been updated to reflect a less-binary understanding of human anatomy. The definition now explicitly includes intersex people and adds context around how sex is assigned at birth.

“Human sex is often seen as strictly binary and composed only of male and female,” explains a new usage note, “In practice, however, the way that a person's sex is categorized depends on several characteristics: genitals, chromosomes, hormonal profiles, and external physical features such as the development of extensive facial hair or breast tissue.”

Pretty nifty!

Here’s all the new dating/sexuality/gender words that have been added (JIC you’re looking to refresh your vocabulary):

• abrosexual - adjective. noting or relating to a person whose sexual orientation is fluid or fluctuates over time. Note: The prefix abro- comes from the Greek habrós, meaning “graceful, delicate, pretty.”

• grundle - noun. Slang: Vulgar. the region between the anus and the genitalia; perineum.

• multisexual - adjective. noting or relating to a person who is sexually or romantically attracted to people of more than one gender, used especially as an inclusive term to describe similar, related sexual orientations such as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, etc.

• mixed-gender- adjective. of or relating to two or more people of different genders.

• nearlywed - noun. a person who lives with another in a life partnership, sometimes engaged with no planned wedding date, sometimes with no intention of ever marrying.

• pinkwashing - noun. an instance or practice of acknowledging and promoting the civil liberties of the LGBTQ+ community, but superficially, as a ploy to divert attention from allegiances and activities that are in fact hostile to such liberties.

• queerbaiting - noun. Slang. a marketing technique involving intentional homoeroticism or suggestions of LGBTQ+ themes intended to draw in an LGBTQ+ audience, without explicit inclusion of openly LGBTQ+ relationships, characters, or people.

• sexual minority - noun. a member or members of the LGBTQ+ community, used especially in the context of discrimination against or advocacy for a minoritized sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

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