Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A common abbreviation of epistle.
  • The form of epi- before a vowel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal episode (of a TV serial, etc.)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening.

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Examples

Comments

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  • EP is the perfect 3rd person singular gender-neutral pronoun that English needs, something less plural-looking than "they".

    EP also has a beautiful etymology to support this new usage:

    ETYMOLOGY

    epicene (adj.)

    "belonging to or including both sexes," mid-15c., epycen, originally a grammatical term for nouns that may denote either gender, from Latin epicoenus "common," from Greek epikoinos "common to many, promiscuous," from epi "on" (see epi-) + koinos "common" (see coeno-). English has no need of it in its grammatical sense. Extended sense of "characteristic of both sexes" first recorded in English c. 1600; that of "effeminate" is from 1630s.

    From EPICENE (adjective)

    ep•i•cene | \ ˈe-pə-ˌsēn \

    Definition of epicene

    1 of a noun : having but one form to indicate either sex

    2a : having characteristics typical of the other sex

    b : EFFEMINATE

    3 : lacking characteristics of either sex

    REFERENCES

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epicene

    https://www.etymonline.com/word/epicene

    USAGE

    compare to current forms:

    he/she/it – these cover the 3rd person singular for binary people (he/she) and for inanimates/things/animals (it)

    proposed new forms:

    he, she, ep, it

    The possessive form of EP would be formed by the same rules as the current ones (no apostrophe):

    Current: his, hers, its

    New: his, hers, eps, its

    In contractions, also using the same rules:

    he’ll (he will) = ep’ll (ep will)

    she’d (she would) = ep’d (ep would)

    it’s (it is) = ep’s (ep is)

    Thanks!

    June 21, 2020

  • Because prescriptivism has a history of working sooo well :-/

    June 22, 2020

  • words like zhe didn't get picked up by people outside of the community who use that word, while a word like 'they' already has a known meaning.

    June 22, 2020

  • Yeah it appears to me that success is much likelier in bending an existing word to a new need than in consciously trying to introduce a new term. Neologisms do stick from time to time but usually because they're funny (eg. asshat), cool (bomboclaat), or have topical intensity (ground zero). Or possibly bits of all (quarantini). Three strikes for this one.

    June 23, 2020