mispronoun

M3I1S1P3R1O1N1O1U1N1

verb

To refer to (someone) using third-person pronouns other than their preferred gender pronouns, either unknowingly or intentionally.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

verbmispronoun (third-person singular simple present mispronouns, present participle mispronouning, simple past and past participle mispronouned)

present singular third person mispronouns · participle present mispronouning · participle past mispronouned · past mispronouned

  1. transitiveTo refer to (someone) using third-person pronouns other than their preferred gender pronouns, either unknowingly or intentionally.

    At times, people mispronoun us, calling us by incorrect pronouns, or misgender us, assuming incorrect genders. Mispronouning and misgendering can be intentional or unintentional.

    2014, Holiday Simmons, Fresh! White, “Our Many Selves”, in Laura Erickson-Schroth, editor, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 17
    2 more examples

    If Victoria doesn't feel that she can sufficiently trust Susan to help her out when James, for example, mispronouns her, then Victoria may simply cease to eat lunch with her colleagues.

    2017, Rachel McKinnon, “Allies Behaving Badly: Gaslighting as epistemic injustice”, in Ian James Kidd, José Medina, Gaile Pohlhaus, Jr., editors, The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice, page 171

    When trans people are forced to correct others after being mispronouned, they are reminding those they correct that their assumptions regarding both the individual in question and the larger system of gender are wrong.

    2019, C. J. Venable, Kyle Inselman, Nick Thout, “Negotiating Fit While 'Misfit': Three Ways Trans Professionals Navigate Student Affairs”, in Brian J. Reece, Vu T. Tran, Elliott N. DeVore, Gabby Porcaro, editors, Debunking the Myth of Job Fit in Higher Education and Student Affairs, unnumbered page

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

mispronoun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mispronoun

MLA

“mispronoun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mispronoun. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mispronoun,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mispronoun.

Source: mispronoun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.