Etymology

theyfab

T1H4E1Y4F4A1B3

Today it means: A non-binary person who was assigned female at birth, often one that does not change their physical appearance. Full definition →

English AFAB ← Middle English birthe ← Old Norse burðr
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*tóy
  2. Proto-Germanic*þai
  3. Proto-Norse*ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ)
  4. Old Norseþeir
  5. Middle Englishþei
  6. Englishthey
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  8. Proto-Italic*ad
  9. Proto-Italic*ad-
  10. Latinad-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*sek-?
  12. Proto-Italic*segnom
  13. Proto-Italic*segnāō
  14. Latinsignō
  15. Latinassignō
  16. Old Frenchassigner
  17. Middle Englishassignen
  18. Englishassign
  19. Englishassigned
  20. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁(y)-
  21. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂
  22. Proto-Italic*θēmanā
  23. Proto-Italic*fēmanā
  24. Latinfēmina
  25. Latinfēmella
  26. Old Frenchfemele
  27. Middle Englishfemele
  28. Middle Englishfemale
  29. Englishfemale
  30. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  31. Proto-Germanic*at
  32. Old Englishæt
  33. Middle Englishat
  34. Englishat
  35. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  36. Proto-Indo-European*bʰértis
  37. Proto-Germanic*burþiz
  38. Old Norseburðr
  39. Middle Englishbirthe
  40. Englishbirth
  41. EnglishAFAB
  42. English todaytheyfab

Blend of they + AFAB (“assigned female at birth”). The first known use is from December 2016 on Twitter.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.