Womyn

Womyn is one of several alternative spellings of the English word women used by some feminists. There are many alternative spellings, including womban and wommon (singular), and wimmin (plural). Some writers who use alternative spellings see them as an expression of female independence and a repudiation of traditions that define females by reference to a male norm.

In Old English sources, the word man was gender-neutral, with a meaning similar to the modern English usage of one as an indefinite pronoun. The words wer and wyf were used to specify a man or woman where necessary, respectively. Combining them into wer-man or wyf-man expressed the concept of "any man" or "any woman". Feminist writers have suggested that this more symmetrical usage reflected more egalitarian notions of gender at the time.

Womyn appeared as an Older Scots spelling of woman in the Scots poetry of James Hogg. Its usage as a feminist spelling of women (with womon as the singular form) first appeared in print in 1976 referring to the first Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.

Wimmin appeared in 19th century renderings of Black American English, without any feminist significance. Z. Budapest promoted the use of wimmin (singular womon) in the 1970s as part of her Dianic Wicca movement, which claims that present-day patriarchy represents a fall from a matriarchal golden age.

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