Polygender

Polygender is an emerging term.Polygender is a term that has recently emerged. Although the term may be growing in usage, and is significant and well-sourced enough to warrant inclusion on this wiki, it may still be relatively unknown outside of the platform or community where it originated. The exact definition and name may not have stabilized, and may change significantly as more people identify with it.

## Related terms

### Different from

* Multigender
* Pangender
* Polysexual
* Polyromantic

**Polygender** is a gender identity where a person experiences more than one gender. This may be any number of combinations of different genders, experienced in different ways, as long as it is more than one at a time. Some people may define polygender as being specifically for more than three genders, with three genders being trigender, and two genders being bigender.

## Etymology

The prefix "poly-" in this context means "many", such as how the word polygon refers to a shape that has many sides.

## Community

### History

The term polygender was in use as early as 1995, when it was specifically referred to as "polygendered" and was alternatively called "pangendered". The definition at the time was given as "exhibiting characteristics of multiple genders, deliberately refuting the concept of only two genders".

In as early as 1998, the term "polygendered" was also used as an umbrella term for identities outside of the binary, similar to how the term non-binary is used today. In addition, the term "queergendered" was used interchangeably with "polygendered", and "queergendered" itself seems to be a very early version of genderqueer.

Today, polygender is usually defined as being an identity for people who feel many but not all genders, instead of being used as an umbrella term. In recent times, the term multigender is used as an umbrella term for identities related to having more than one gender, with polygender being a label under that umbrella.

### Flag

The creator of the most commonly used version of the polygender flag is unknown, but this particular polygender design was in use for as early as July 4, 2015. The meanings for the flag's colors are as follows:

* **Black**: Partially agender
* **Grey**: Fluctuating genders
* **Pink**: Femininity, including partial femininity
* **Yellow**: Genders outside of the gender binary
* **Blue**: Masculinity, including partial masculinity

### Distinction

#### Multigender

Main article: Multigender

Both polygender and multigender have similar meanings, with both being identities for people who experience multiple genders. They are often used interchangeably in this case. However, recent discussions and definitions of multigender also use that label as an umbrella term for all identities that involve having multiple genders, such as bigender, trigender, and pangender. By these definitions, polygender is a specific label under the multigender umbrella.

#### Pangender

Main article: Pangender

Pangender is sometimes confused with polygender, but the main difference is how many genders are a part of each identity. Pangender is often defined as feeling all genders at once, while polygender is usually many but not all genders at once.

#### Polysexual

Main article: Polysexual

Polygender and polysexual both use the same prefix "poly-", which means "many". For polygender people, this describes the experiencing of feeling many genders at once, while polysexual describes sexual attraction to many genders.

#### Polyromantic

Main article: Polyromantic

Similar to polysexual, polyromantic shares the same prefix "poly-" as polygender. In this case, polyromantic is not a gender identity like polygender, but instead is an identity for romantic attraction to many genders.

#### Polyamorous

Main article: Polyamorous

Polyamorous also uses the same "poly-" prefix as polygender, polysexual, and polyromantic. It is another separate identity concept from the other three. Polyamorous is a term used to describe a person who is romantically or sexually involved with more than one person. It can also be used to describe romantic and sexual relationships between more than two people. It is not a gender identity, unlike polygender.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Danica Nuccitelli: "A Queergendered FAQ" (1998-05-26). gender-sphere.0catch.com. (Archived on February 4, 2020).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gary Bowen: "A Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women" (1995-05-15). ftm-intl.org. (Archived on November 5, 1996).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Meaning of polygender". queerundefined.com. Queer Undefined.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Naydeline Mejia: "Here's What It Means to Be Polygender" (2022-01-20). cosmopolitan.com. Cosmopolitan. (Archived on March 1, 2022).
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mere Abrams, LCSW, and Sian Ferguson: "68 Terms That Describe Gender Identity and Expression" (2022-02-09). healthline.com. (Archived on March 9, 2022).
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Hardell, Ash. *The ABC's of LGBT+*. Mango Media, Inc., 2016. ISBN 9781633534087.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 "Polygender (1)". deviantart.com. (Archived on February 21, 2022).
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "The Ultimate Guide to Non-Binary Gender Identity Flags" (2019-04-21). mygenderisx.com. My Gender Is X. (Archived on November 4, 2021).
9. ↑ "Poly Definition & Meaning". dictionary.com.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 "Pride Flag Guide: Polygender". flag.library.lgbt. Library.LGBT.
11. ↑ "What Is Polysexuality?". webmd.com. WebMD.
12. ↑ "Asexuality, Attraction, and Romantic Orientation". lgbtq.unc.edu. UNC LGBT Center. (Archived on March 8, 2022).
13. ↑ Bass, Lianna: "Greatest Guide to Polyamory: Myth vs Fact" (2021-12-22). greatist.com. Greatest.