Zepanaesthetic — A term for people who are both ansthetic/anaesthetic/nonaesthetic/etc. (or anae-spec) and alloaesthetic, or are a mix of the two. For example, a person might identify as zepanaesthetic if:
They are on the cusp of anae-spec and alloaesthetic.
They experience a "grey area" of aesthetic attraction.
Their aesthetic attraction fluctuates, such as abroaesthetic, anaeflux, etc.
Their aesthetic orientation can otherwise be described as both alloaesthetic and ansthetic, or on the ansthetic spectrum.
It can also be referred to as zepansthetic or zepa-aesthetic.
Etymology, flag symbolism, and further info is below the cut. Fair warning: the full description of the flag symbolism is very long, though a TLDR version is also included.
Etymology — Originally, I called this synepansthetic, synepanaesthetic, or synepa-aesthetic. It came from syn ("with; together"), ep ("in addition to; among" or "attached to") and a or an ("without; not"), literally meaning "with in addition to without" aesthetic attraction. It was coined at the request of an anon on Tumblr, who wanted an aesthetic equivalent to my other synepa terms.
I then proposed that the term be updated to zepanaesthetic on March 6, 2026, to simplify the term and make it a bit more accessible. The etymology is roughly the same, but the prefix syn is replaced with the letter z, representing the opposite of a and referencing the term zedromantic. It can be pronounced "zeppuh" or "zeepuh" depending on personal preference; either one is correct.
Flag Symbolism (TLDR) — Each stripe has its own meaning:
Black represents ansthetic people. It has a subtle beige tint to indicate inclusion in the ansthetic spectrum.
Beige represents the ansthetic spectrum as a whole.
Grey represents greyaesthetic, demiaesthetic, and other anae-spec identities that aren’t ansthetic. It has a subtle beige tint to indicate inclusion in the ansthetic spectrum.
White represents alloaestheticism.
Pink represents aesthetic attraction.
Flag Symbolism (Full Explanation) — Created for anon! I must admit, I was a bit stumped on this one at first, to the extent that I almost didn't make it. There isn't really a "community anae-spec color" in the same way that the asexual or aromantic spectra have a color. Even aplatonic has the trio of green, blue, and purple to contrast with the platonic yellow. But as far as I could find, there is no such thing when it comes to the anae-spec community.
The ansthetic/anaesthetic/nonaesthetic/etc. flag uses pink in place of the asexual flag's purple, but the pink stripe represents aesthetic attraction, rather than the absence of such. So, pink is representative of alloaestheticism more so than it is of anaestheticism.
This meant that I had to come up with a color to use for the anae-spec portion of the flag. My first idea was inverting the pink to its direct opposite, but the inverse of pink is green, and that's already taken by the aromantic spectrum. I didn't want to just make the zeparomantic flag again and say "it's actually different, I swear."
I considered just using grey for the anae-spec portion, but this felt lazy, and also just made it look like the ansthetic flag with an extra stripe. I didn't want to just make the entire flag pink, either. I knew I could do better than that. Anae-spec people deserve better than that.
So, after a lot of thinking, I ultimately landed on beige. This is often perceived as an aesthetically "dry" color, to the extent that it is sometimes used as a metaphor for plainness or lack of differentiation. I feel that this works well to convey the experience of anaestheticism. The appearance of other people is aesthetically unremarkable. And, as an added bonus, it pairs really nicely with pink!
After figuring out which color to use for the anae-spec portion of the flag, all there was left to do was format the colors in the same way as the other zepa- flags. Beige-tinted black for ansthetic, beige for the full ansthetic spectrum, beige-tinted grey for greyaesthetic, demiaesthetic, and other anae-spec identities which aren't strictly ansthetic, white for alloaesthetic, and pink for aesthetic attraction.
I'm considering renaming synepasexual, syneparomantic, synepaplatonic, synepansthetic, and all other potential synepa labels to zepa instead. This would simplify the terms and shorten them down considerably, which I hope would result in them being more accessible.
The syn prefix means "with; together" and is intended to represent the allo part of the identity. I'm thinking about switching it to a simple z, being the opposite of a aphabetically, and referencing the zed prefix used in zedsexual, zedromantic, etc. (synonyms for allo)
This would end up looking like this:
Synepasexual -> Zepasexual
Syneparomantic -> Zeparomantic
Synepaplatonic -> Zepaplatonic
Synepansthetic -> Zepansthetic
All other instances of synepa would also become zepa
It would be pronounced "zeppuh" or "zeepuh" (I'm leaning towards the former, personally)
Should I rename them? The original posts would be edited, though the original prefix would still be mentioned in the etymology section for history's sake.
