韦氏词典公布2019年度词汇：they

2019年进入倒计时，各大词典根据当年的搜索量和热门事件，纷纷公布年度词汇。而韦氏词典公布的年度词汇可能让你大吃一惊：they，原因是这一词汇今年的搜索量比2018年增加了313%。 Merriam-Webster has named "they" its word of the year. 韦氏词典近日将“they”（他们/她们）评为2019年度词汇。 The US dictionary also recently added a new definition of "they", reflecting its use as a singular personal pronoun for non-binary people. 今年，韦氏词典网站上“they”一词的搜索量比2018年增加了313%。 British pop star Sam Smith came out as non-binary in March, and in September confirmed on Instagram that their pronouns were "they/them". “虽然我们的查询经常受到新闻事件的影响，但韦氏词典也是语言本身信息的主要来源，而‘they’用法的改变近年来也成为越来越多的研究和评论的主题。” "English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like 'everyone' or 'someone', and as a consequence 'they' has been used for this purpose for over 600 years." “众所周知，英语中缺少一个中性的单数人称代词，无法与‘everyone’或‘someone’等单数人称代词很好地对应，因此，‘they’用于这个指代功能已有600多年的历史。” Last month, Collins dictionary also recognised the term "non-binary" as a description of people who do not identify as male or female.