gender star

Noun

gender star (plural gender stars)

1. An asterisk used to separate gendered inflections in the German language to make words gender-neutral.
   • 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...[2019 January 22, Jon Shelton, “City of Hanover overhauls gender language usage in official texts”, in Deutsche Welle
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   gender asterisk