person

Terms that are not gender-specific have increasingly grown in prominence, and ones incorporating the suffix -person are now common (chairperson, spokesperson). The terms that have taken hold most strongly tend to be those that do not simply replace -man (or -woman) with -person but are more subtly neutral with respect to sex: chair rather than chairperson, representative rather than congressperson. Despite the powerful trend toward inclusive terms, however, it remains true that when the members of the group at issue are predominantly male, the traditional term incorporating -man tends to be used more frequently (chairman, fisherman). Forms with -woman are also seen, though in most cases these are now less common than the form incorporating -person. Choose gender-neutral words when they are available.