What is the difference between proxvir and demiboy?

Demiboy names a partial identification with male, with the remainder being another gender or none. Proxvir names a complete gender that sits near male without being it. The distinction is the reason the word was coined, and it is the one point on which Dictionary.com and the two community wikis disagree.

The Tumblr user Wulfgendur, also known as Ren, in July 2014. Juxera, the near-female counterpart, was coined in the same post, and a second post carrying flags for both terms followed within the same month.

Where do the parts of the word come from?

Prox- is from the Latin adjective proximus, meaning near, and -vir from the masculine Latin noun vir. Juxera was built the same way from the Latin juxta and the feminine noun era, which is why the two words look like a pair.

Is proxvir used as a noun?

No. Both wikis insist it works as an adjective, in the way male and female do, so a person is proxvir rather than a proxvir.

How many people have recorded themselves as proxvir?

Thirteen respondents in the 2019 Gender Census and twenty-two in 2020, which the Nonbinary Wiki gives as 0.1 and 0.09 per cent. Those are shares of people who answered a community survey about gender, not shares of any population.

Proxvir: Meaning, Origin & Who Uses It

Proxvir

Proxvir names a gender that sits near male without being male, held as one whole gender rather than as a part of one. It is the near-male half of a matched pair. Juxera, the near-female term, was coined by the same person in the same act, and the flags for both were drawn within weeks.

Why proxvir is not demiboy

The contrast is the reason the word exists. Demiboy describes a combination, a partial identification with male alongside something else, whether that something is agender or another gender entirely. Proxvir is neither a combination nor a fraction: the Nonbinary Wiki states that proxvir people do not necessarily partly identify with any other gender, because proxvir is a gender in and of itself. Being a whole gender is what lets a proxvir person also use Third gender, which the wiki notes some do.

The word is an adjective and the wikis are strict about it. A person is proxvir, in the way a person is male or female, rather than a proxvir. The LGBTQIA+ Wiki adds that for some the gender is strongly connected to masculinity without being aligned to manhood.

Where proxvir and juxera came from

Wulfgendur, a Tumblr user also known as Ren, coined both in July 2014, in a post the LGBTQIA+ Wiki cites through an archive copy under a title offering some new gender terms. A second post carrying flags for the pair followed the same month. Prox- is from the Latin adjective proximus, near, and -vir from vir, the masculine Latin noun for man; juxera was built the same way from juxta and the feminine era, so the pair is symmetrical in its morphology as well as in its meaning.

The pair has since been extended by other people. Proxvirgirl was coined by an NBDB user called Arson on 2 October 2021, as a mirror of juxeraboy, and a green and blue alternative proxvir flag circulates whose maker nobody has identified.

How the sources disagree about proxvir

On the date and on the definition. Both community wikis put the coinage in July 2014 and cite the archived post. Dictionary.com, in an entry dated 6 November 2018, says the gender was created by wulfgendur in 2016 and glosses it as boyish but not boy, masculine but not male, adding that it is close to the more established demiboy. That last clause is the reading both wikis were written to rule out, and the entry carries a note saying it is an informal word summary rather than a formal definition.

Counting stops at write-in level. The Nonbinary Wiki reports 13 respondents, 0.1 per cent, in the 2019 Gender Census, and 22 respondents, 0.09 per cent, in 2020. No academic literature covers the term and no dictionary of record carries it.

Common questions

Questions about Proxvir

What is the difference between proxvir and demiboy?: Demiboy names a partial identification with male, with the remainder being another gender or none. Proxvir names a complete gender that sits near male without being it. The distinction is the reason the word was coined, and it is the one point on which Dictionary.com and the two community wikis disagree.
Who coined proxvir?: The Tumblr user Wulfgendur, also known as Ren, in July 2014. Juxera, the near-female counterpart, was coined in the same post, and a second post carrying flags for both terms followed within the same month.
Where do the parts of the word come from?: Prox- is from the Latin adjective proximus, meaning near, and -vir from the masculine Latin noun vir. Juxera was built the same way from the Latin juxta and the feminine noun era, which is why the two words look like a pair.
Is proxvir used as a noun?: No. Both wikis insist it works as an adjective, in the way male and female do, so a person is proxvir rather than a proxvir.
How many people have recorded themselves as proxvir?: Thirteen respondents in the 2019 Gender Census and twenty-two in 2020, which the Nonbinary Wiki gives as 0.1 and 0.09 per cent. Those are shares of people who answered a community survey about gender, not shares of any population.

Added 2026-08-28 · Revised 2026-08-28