/soy/ - Soyjaks

Latine is a gender-neutral neologism developed as an alternative to the terms Latino, Latina, or Latinx used to identify people of Latin American descent. The term stems from the more popular term Latinx. While Latine is broadly described as a gender-neutral term for Latin Americans, its use is linguistically limited to people from Hispanic America and is exclusionary toward Latin Americans who speak other Romance languages. It cannot function as a gender-neutral term for people from Franco America because Latine is already the feminine form of Latin in French.

Latine is relatively new, only gaining use in the late 2010s. Both Latine and Latinx can be used in the same manner. The term Latinx ends with an "x" which makes it more difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce. In contrast, Latine is more accessible to Spanish speakers because the “-e” word ending is a vowel sound that is standard in Spanish and is parallel to other gender-neutral words in Spanish such as estudiante.

Latinx's main use is in the United States and in academia, and the increasing number of people identifying as non-binary and seeking terms that affirm their gender identities are some of the reasons as to why Latine is gaining attention and use. Although just 3% of Hispanic Americans said they used Latinx in a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, younger generations are becoming more aware of gender-neutral alternatives like Latine.

The term is new to many countries outside Chile and Argentina, it is beginning to gain attraction in both academia and everyday use. While the term is more inclusive and making its way to other countries, many people who identify as Hispanic or Latino are still unaware of terms such as Latine or Latinx, with the majority being older people ages 50 and above.