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Glite Dictionary
to identify as bi

to identify as bi

7.5
To say you like both men and women
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : identificarse como bi
  • She chose to identify as bi after realizing her attractions to multiple genders.

Examples

  • In a supportive environment, he felt free to identify as bi without fear of judgment.

  • Some later come out as gay or lesbian, others identify as bi or straight.

    Blog text (15)

  • In fact, it is estimated that one in five new students will identify as bi/multiracial by 2050 (Brown, 2009; Smith & Edmonston, 1997).

    Academic text (2014)

  • Many young people today identify as bi rather than conforming to traditional labels.

Surface Forms

identify as bi infinitive
identified as bi past
identified as bi past participle
identifying as bi present participle
identifies as bi third person singular

Morphology

identify + as + Bi

The meaning 'to recognize and describe oneself as bisexual' is directly and compositionally derived from 'identify' (to recognise/associate oneself) + 'as' (marking a label/category) + 'bi' (bisexual). This syntactic pattern (identify as + label) is common in English and in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase identify as bi comes from the idea of saying what kind of person you are, like putting a name tag that reads bi on yourself. So it means 'to recognize and describe oneself as bisexual'.