Achillean
Men and adjacent people attracted to men, trans men included without qualification.
Achillean describes men, and people close to manhood, who are attracted to men. It covers gay men, bisexual and pansexual men, and many nonbinary people whose relationship to manhood is real without being simple.
It comes from Achilles and Patroclus, whose relationship in the Iliad has been read as a love story for most of the time the poem has existed. The counterpart word, sapphic, comes from the poet Sappho, and the pair travel together.
It does the same job sapphic does and for the same reason. Gay is specific, and some people it would describe do not want it, either because they are bisexual or because their own gender does not sit still enough for the word to attach to. Achillean holds all of that without asking anyone to settle anything first.
Trans men are achillean on exactly the same terms as anyone else. So are nonbinary people who are read into or out of manhood depending on the room.
It is the newer of the two words and the less used, which is mostly an accident of how the pair spread. They are meant to be symmetrical.
Achillean is not a decorative synonym for gay
Treated as a prettier version of the older word, it loses its function. Gay names an orientation and, for most people who use it, a gender. Achillean names only the direction of the attraction and leaves the speaker's own gender open.
That is the whole reason it gets reached for. Someone bisexual, or whose gender is still moving, or who is a man in a way that gets argued about, can say achillean without being asked to defend a second claim in the same breath.
Saying it well
Say this
- Achillean.
- I am an achillean trans man.
- An achillean relationship.
- Achillean, because gay assumes something about my gender I cannot promise.
Not this
- Achillean means cis gay men
- So it is just a fancy word for gay
- Real achilleans are men only
- Achillean but for actual men
Questions people actually ask
What does achillean mean?
Men, and people adjacent to manhood, who are attracted to men. It includes gay, bisexual and pansexual men, and many nonbinary people.
Are trans men achillean?
Yes, on the same terms as anyone else. A trans man attracted to men is achillean, with nothing further to establish.
What is the difference between achillean and gay?
Gay names both an orientation and, usually, a gender. Achillean names only the direction of attraction, which is why bisexual and nonbinary people use it.
What is the female equivalent of achillean?
Sapphic, for women and adjacent people attracted to women. The two words are counterparts.
Where does the word achillean come from?
From Achilles and his relationship with Patroclus in the Iliad, long read as a love story.