Andorian Gender
The Andorian and Aenar species have four distinct sexes and a union between all four, an act known as the shelthreth, is required for procreation. Thaan and chan are treated by outsiders as masculine, and zhen and shen as feminine. Most Andorians and Aenar tolerate this, and the associated gendered pronouns in languages that use them, while dealing with species who identify as primarily binary gendered out of a desire to not get involved in a discussion on gender and reproduction. Chan and shen can sometimes be difficult to tell apart, often considered androgynous by some, and will accept or even prefer gender neutral pronouns when a language has them in addition to gendered pronouns.
Biological Sex and Reproduction
Andorians require the participation of four sexes to produce offspring; many bonds are arranged in the last 24th and early 25th centuries to ensure the best genetic matches, and reproduction is often assisted by use of a psychoactive substance called saf. The thaan and chan first produce a diplotic sperm, which the chan delivers to the shen to fertilize her egg. The produces a triploidic zygote, which is then implanted in the zhen's utermine sac to go through gestation.
Name prefixes
In some Andorian linguistic traditions, Andorians have name prefixes which indicate which of the four genders they are. The prefixes thus encountered are as follows.
- Zhen - zh' (eg. Shathrissia zh'Cheen, Charivretha zh'Thane)
- Shen - sh' (eg. Pava Ek'Noor sh'Aqabaa, Avaranthi sh'Rothress)
- Chan - ch' (eg. Thirishar ch'Thane, Thanashal ch'Shonnas)
- Thaan - th' (eg. Thelianaresth th'Vorothishria, Shelerib th'Zharath)
Polite form of address: Zha, Sha, Cha, Tha. Bondmate: zh'yi, sh'za, ch'te, th'se. Parent: zhavey, shreya, charan, thavan. Offspring: zhei, shei, chei, thei. Sibling: zhi, shi, chi, thi. Parent by marriage: zhadi, shidei, chada, thadu. Child by marriage: zhri'za, shri'za, chri'ze, thri'ze.
Meta
Selected information acquired from Andorian genders on Memory Beta. Aspects are modified in an attempt to be more gender inclusive. The history section is left out entirely, due to it's frequent back and forth nature that is a symptom of soft canon not being required to be consistent across authors.
