Merriam Webster has added the term “second gentleman” to its dictionaries to describe the role of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff.
The definition for the new term is “the husband or male partner of a vice president or second in command of a country or jurisdiction’’.
Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer, is the nation’s first second gentleman and is also the first Jewish spouse in the White House.
“I might be the first but I won’t be the last,’’ Emhoff wrote on Twitter on Thursday above a link to the entry.
His handle is @SecondGentleman.
Merriam Webster said the first use of the term was in 1976 and several state governor’s partners have been state gentlemen.
“The term is not new, but it’s finally common enough to have met our entry criteria,’’ the company said.
On the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Emhoff said he was “honoured to be the first male spouse of an American President or Vice President.
“But I’ll always remember generations of women have served in this role before me – often without much accolade or acknowledgment.
“It’s their legacy of progress I will build on as Second Gentleman,’’ he tweeted on Jan. 21.
Harris, the first woman vice president of the U.S., married Emhoff in 2014.
