The term “ex” has been around for long and is used to define your past significant other from an exclusive relationship. Well, a survey conducted by a journalist who goes by the name Mady says that even if you are not actively involved in the relationship, you can call the other person ex.

She referred to a woman from her past who she considers her ex even though they were never official. “It does feel like she's my ex, even though that goes against my own definition,” said Maddy, who requested to be referred by her first name for privacy reasons. “Just because of the level of closeness and the level of how much we expected from each other.”

Source: Mashable

Well, this is quite accurate. In 2020, we do not define a relationship with exclusivity anymore because there are so many other forms that it can turn into. From “casual” and “no strings attached” to “friends with benefit”, all kinds of terms exist now to define a relationship.

So, if people you were never serious with are not exes, then what are they?

You can always call them “semis”. It is a prefix taken from semi-lover and fits quite accurately. So upgrade your dating vocabulary and refer to the person you almost had a thing with as your “semi”.

According to Guy Winch, a psychologist and author of How to Fix a Broken Heart, these vague terms are usually employed to describe relationships of millennials and Gen Z because technology and commitment issues have made it possible for all of us to have a variety of connections with other people.

He says that these two generations also have the tendency to skip labels and not immediately put the tag of exclusive on their relationships. “There's not the understanding of this linear process of you starting dating someone, it intensifies in seriousness, and then either you get into a committed serious relationship or it drops off,” he said in an interview with Mashable. "That's no longer the main model I think people are using.”

Phrases like “let’s see where this goes'' are quite common and this makes it difficult to define the loss of that person with the word “ex”. So we have decided to include the word “semi”!