The word Latinx (a gender-neutral construction meant to be more inclusive of nonbinary people of Latin American descent) is having something of a moment. Its use is widespread on college campuses, Elizabeth Warren said it in a primary debate, and Google Trends shows searches for it spiking because of increased awareness from the recent protests. The term first appeared in 2004 and began to experience widespread usage in the mid-2010s. Pronunciations vary (although I've only heard latin-eks), and it's been criticized by prescriptivists for breaking with the normal two-gendered Spanish grammar. Other forms of this have Latine and Latin@, and some English-speaking activists have similarly tried to popularize Mx. as an alternative to the honorifics Mr. and Ms. It'll be interesting to see how this attempted language reform continues developing in the future.
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AUTHORHello! I'm Adam Aleksic. This year, I graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government and Linguistics. There, I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and wrote a thesis on Serbo-Croatian language policy, magna cum laude. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy philosophy, trivia, vexillology, geography, board games, conlanging, art history, and law.
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