Genderfae & Genderfaun

Genderfae and genderfaun are genderfluid identities that never reach one binary pole: genderfae shifts between genders but never fully male, genderfaun shifts but never fully female.

Etymology

From fae (fairy folk) and faun (the Roman woodland deity), chosen as nature-spirit names matching the fluid, untamed quality of the experience. Coined in online non-binary communities (mid-2010s; genderfae is also rendered "genderfaer").

History

Emerged from Tumblr genderfluid communities as people sought language for fluidity with a fixed exclusion - the recognition that some genderfluid people's range simply never includes one binary pole. Related: librafeminine/libramasculine describe a different, static partial experience.

Common myths

"Genderfae is just demigirl." Demigirl is a stable partial identification with womanhood; genderfae is fluid across many genders with masculinity excluded from the range.