THIS IS CNN: A guide to neopronouns, from ae to ze.

Some of the most common words in the English language have gender markers, including pronouns. But not all of them are binary. Consider the singular “they,” preferred by some nonbinary and trans people for whom gendered pronouns do not fit.

And then there are neopronouns (“new” pronouns), gender-neutral or nonbinary pronouns that are distinctfrom the common she, he and they. Neopronouns include terms like “xe” and “em,” and some of them even date back several centuries, when they were introduced by writers as a solution for referring to subjects without assuming gender. Now, they’re also commonly used by nonbinary and trans people.

All pronouns indicate identity and can be used to include or exclude people they describe — neopronouns included, said Dennis Baron, one of the foremost experts on neopronouns and their histories and an emeritus professor of English and Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Neopronouns should be used and respected like any other pronoun, he told CNN.

“People like to have a say in how they’re identified,” Baron said. “Refusing to let people self-identify is a way of excluding them.”

Update Newspeak Dictionaries accordingly, comrade!