gender star

noun

An asterisk used to separate gendered inflections in the German language to make words gender-neutral.

Meanings

noungender star (plural gender stars)

plural gender stars

  1. An asterisk used to separate gendered inflections in the German language to make words gender-neutral.

    For now, at least, they decided not to adopt more radical changes, such as the so-called gender star, which places an asterisk before the feminine word-ending to include females, males, and the non-binary: Schüler*innen, for example.

    [2021 June 21, Nette Nöstlinger, “German news gets gender-neutral makeover”, in Politico
    1 more example

    Current attempts to shorten the space devoted to accepted forms of differentiation have included the introduction of an uppercase "I" sandwiched in compound nouns addressing both males and females at once. An asterisk, known as the "gender star" has also been added to include citizens who do not consider themselves either

    [2019 January 22, Jon Shelton, “City of Hanover overhauls gender language usage in official texts”, in Deutsche Welle

    Synonyms: gender asterisk

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn asterisk used to separate gendered inflections in the German language to make words gender-neutral.

Origin

  1. GermanGendersternchen
  2. Englishgender star

Calque of German Gendersternchen.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

gender star. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gender%20star

MLA

“gender star.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gender%20star. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gender star,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gender%20star.

Source: gender star on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.