xennial

• Xennial

Blend of (Generation) X +‎ millennial.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛnɪəl/, /ɛksˈɛnɪəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛniəl/, /ɛksˈɛniəl/

xennial (plural xennials)

1. (informal) A person born late in Generation X or early in Generation Y, that is, sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s; a member of the Oregon Trail Generation. [from 21st c.]

   Coordinate terms: Joneser, Zillennial

   • 2014 September 25, Sarah Stankorb, “Glad to be a Xennial”, in GOOD‎:

     I was born in 1980. According to some sources, this makes me a Gen Xer. According to others, I’m a Millennial. That makes me what then, a Xennial? I take online quizzes, like Pew Research Center’s “How Millennial Are You?”, and land dead between Gen X and Millennial due to my personal habits, body piercings, and so many more reasons.

   • 2017 July 6, Sarah Stankorb, “I Made Up Xennial 3 Years Ago, So Why Is a Professor in Australia Getting All the Credit?”, in Vogue‎:

     Xennial is a term that I first used in a 2014 story for GOOD magazine, following on the heels of writers like Doree Shafrir, who in 2011 called this cusp generation’s pop-cultural misfit status Generation Catalano, after crowdsourcing the My So-Called Life–inspired term from Danielle Nussbaum on Twitter.

   • 2017 November 10, Dwight Adams, “You're a xennial — if you're caught between Generation X and millennials”, in Indianapolis Star‎:

     But there's this new group, you may know them — that microgeneration sandwiched between — who feel like they don't really belong to either group […] Love it or hate it, there's a newish name for these lost souls: the "xennials" (pronounced ZEE-knee-als).

   • 2023 April 20, Casey Schwartz, “Jean Twenge is ready to make you defend your generation again”, in The Washington Post‎:

     I’m a reluctant millennial myself (or possibly — God forbid — an xennial), stuck in the pretty common category of not identifying with my so-called generation.

Timeline of generations

• “Words We're Watching: 'Xennial'” by Merriam–Webster