transgender

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From trans- + gender. First used in English by John Oliven in 1965,[1] the term had acquired its current senses by the 1990s (by which time it had also largely displaced the earlier term transsexual; see usage notes).[2]

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /tɹænzˈd͡ʒɛn.dɚ/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /tɹanzˈd͡ʒɛn.də/
  • Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)
  • (file)

Adjective

transgender (not comparable)

  1. (strictly) Having a gender (identity) which is different from the sex one was assigned at birth: being assigned male at birth but having a female or non-binary gender or vice versa; or, pertaining to such people. (Compare transsexual, and the following two senses.)
    • 2010, Jessica Green, "I'm sorry, I'm not lesbian", The Guardian, 3 Mar 2010:
      One head of a small gay charity visibly flinched when I mentioned my boyfriend and has been cold towards me ever since. I've even caught someone staring down my top to see if I'm transgender.
    • 2010, Natasha Lennard, "City Room", New York Times, 7 Apr 2010:
      But the inclusion of the word “trannie” — a pejorative, in some circles — in the title, and the film’s parodic representation of transgender women, has offended many people.
  2. (very strictly, often offensive, proscribed) Having a gender (identity) which is opposite from the sex one was assigned at birth: being assigned male at birth but having a female gender, or vice versa; or, pertaining to such people.
  3. (broadly) Not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories of male or female; having changed gender identity from male to female or female to male, or identifying with elements of both, or having some other gender identity; or, pertaining to such people. (Compare genderqueer, transsexual.)
    • 1992, Maximum rocknroll, number 109:
      I think the new punk rockers are going to be more androgynous, more bisexual, more transgender, more ethnically diverse and less willing to take shit than ...
    • 1998, John Cloud, "Trans across America", Time, 20 Feb 1998:
      Their first step was to reclaim the power to name themselves: transgender is now the term most widely used, and it encompasses everyone from cross-dressers (those who dress in clothes of the opposite sex) to transsexuals (those who surgically "correct" their genitals to match their "real" gender).
  4. (of a space) Intended primarily for transgender people.
    • 2001, Walter O. Bockting, Sheila Kirk, Transgender and HIV: Risks, Prevention, and Care, page 46:
      In Boston, no AIDS prevention messages are posted at the primary drag queen and transgender bar.
    • 2011, Connie Emerson, Top 10 Las Vegas, →ISBN:
      The Las Vegas Lounge is the city's only transgender bar.
    • 2013, Norbert Paxton, The Rough Guide to Korea, →ISBN:
      Trance A thriving transgender bar on the main Itaewon drag, []
    • 2022 August 30, Yen, William, “Filipino dancer decodes beauty pageants and their colonial roots”, in Focus Taiwan, archived from the original on 03 September 2022, Culture:
      Belgium-based Filipino dancer Joshua Serafin’s performance later this week at the Taipei Arts Festival explores transgender beauty pageants from the Philippines and the politics, culture and hidden colonial past behind the industry, the artist said Tuesday.
  5. (of a space) Available for use by transgender people (in addition to non-transgender people).
    • 2002 October 2, Boston Globe, Group wants transgender bathrooms for UMASS, quoted in 2010, Sheila L. Cavanagh, Queering Bathrooms →ISBN
    • 2010, Harvey Molotch, Laura Noren, Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, page 199:
      Why the sudden outcry for transgender bathrooms?
    • 2013, William Keith, Christian O. Lundberg, Public Speaking: Choice and Responsibility:
      In contrast, in a democratic conversation or dialogue, the speaker would begin by identifying the larger public issues that connect to the availability of transgender bathrooms: equality, civil rights, []

Usage notes

  • The term transgender was coined in 1965[1] and popularized in the late 1970s,[3][4] and by the 1990s it had largely displaced the older, narrower term transsexual.[2][5] Transsexual is now often considered outdated[3] although some people still prefer it; see its entry for more. Neither term should be confused with transvestite (which see for more).
  • For the usage of this word (and similar adjectives) as a noun, see below.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Noun

transgender (usually uncountable, plural transgenders)

  1. (countable, now often offensive) A transgender person.
    • 2005, Walter Bockting & Eric Avery, Transgender Health and HIV Prevention, page 116:
      In a patriarchal society in which machismo rules, MTF transgenders represent a challenge to traditional masculinity due to their renouncing of the male position of social power.
    • 2006, Jayne Caudwell, Sport, Sexualities and Queer/theory, page 122:
      Individual transgenders could compete in any division; however, transgender teams could not play against biological women's teams.
    • 2014, Sheila Jeffreys, Gender Hurts (page 70)
      This public presentation of the mutilation of the penis is not obviously very different from the forms of disassembly of the penis engaged in by male body modifiers – particularly nullos and transgenders – on the Body Modification Ezine website.
    • 2015, Helen Davies, Transgender woman forced to move house after death threats and knife in her front door (in The Liverpool Echo)
      Nat spent years being victimised as a male to female transgender but was too scared to report it.
  2. (uncountable, rare) Transgenderism; the state of being transgender. (Compare transsex.)
    • 2007, Alison Stone, An Introduction to Feminist Philosophy, →ISBN, page 41:
      Before we can answer this question, we need to consider two other phenomena – transsex and transgender – which also expose the muddle within conventional categories of sex.

Usage notes

  • In Western countries, many transgender people consider the use of transgender (and similar adjectives) as a noun to be offensive, and several guides advise against such usage.[6][7][8][9] "A transgender man" (for a man who was assigned the female sex at birth) or "a transgender woman" (for the reverse) is frequently more appropriate.

Hypernyms

Coordinate terms

Translations

Verb

transgender (third-person singular simple present transgenders, present participle transgendering, simple past and past participle transgendered)

  1. (uncommon) To change the gender of; (used loosely) to change the sex of. (Compare transsex.)
    • 2005, Sue Tolleson-Rinehart; Jyl J. Josephson, Gender and American Politics, →ISBN, pages 15 and 205:
      [] and one that is still dominated by male nominees, women nominees might be seen as either contributing to the regendering, or the transgendering, of the Cabinet.
      []
      This chapter examines women secretaries-designate in terms of their contributions to regendering or transgendering a cabinet office, to a gender desegregation or integration of the cabinet.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.

Usage notes

  • In Western countries, many transgender people consider the use of transgender (and similar adjectives) as a verb in reference to transgender individuals to be offensive, much the same as its use as a noun.[8] "A transgender man" (for a man who was assigned the female sex at birth) or "a transgender woman" (for a woman who was assigned the male sex at birth) is frequently more appropriate.

See also

References

  1. Thomas E. Bevan, The Psychobiology of Transsexualism and Transgenderism (2014, →ISBN, page 42: "The term transsexual was introduced by Cauldwell (1949) and popularized by Harry Benjamin (1966) [...]. The term transgender was coined by John Oliven (1965) and popularized by various transgender people [... including] many transgender people [who] advocated the use of the term much more than Prince. [...] Transsexuals constitute a subset of transgender people."
  2. Transgender Rights (2006, →ISBN, edited by Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang, Shannon Minter; page 4: "From signifying a subject position between cross-dresser and transsexual, the meaning of transgender expanded radically in the early 1990s to include them, along with other cross-gender practices and identities."
  3. transgender”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  4. transgender”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
  5. “transgender,transsexual”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer, accessed December 5, 2017
  6. GLAAD media reference guide:
    Problematic: "transgenders," "a transgender"
    Preferred: transgender people, a transgender person
    Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, "Tony is a transgender," or "The parade included many transgenders." Instead say, "Tony is a transgender man," or "The parade included many transgender people."
  7. Reuters Handbook of Journalism: Do not use transgender as a noun; no one should be referred to as “a transgender.”
  8. Guardian and Observer style guide: use transgender [...] only as an adjective: transgender person, trans person; never "transgendered person" or "a transgender"
  9. BBC News style guide: "Do not say 'transsexuals', in the same way we would not talk about 'gays' or 'blacks'."

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Adjective

transgender

  1. transgender

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English transgender. See also gender.

Pronunciation

  • (file)
  • IPA(key): /ˈtrɑns.ɣɛn.dər/, /ˈtrɑns.dʒɛn.dər/
  • Hyphenation: trans‧gen‧der

Adjective

transgender (invariable, not comparable)

  1. transgender

Noun

transgender m or f (plural transgenders)

  1. A transgender person.

See also


German

Etymology

Borrowed from English transgender. By surface analysis, trans- + Gender.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tʁansˈdʒɛndɐ/
  • (file)

Adjective

transgender (indeclinable, predicative only)

  1. transgender
    Coordinate terms: transgeschlechtlich, transsexuell, transident
    • 2021 September 24, Julika Kott, “Onlinemagazin von trans Frauen: Ein Gegenschlag”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz, ISSN 0931-9085:
      Auf Youtube, Instagram und Twitter schreibt und spricht die Redaktion etwa über vergessene trans Personen aus der Geschichte, trans Rechte und Transphobie. In der Redaktion von XY Média in Paris sind alle 18 Mitarbeitenden transgender.
      (please add an English translation of this quote)

Declension

Indeclinable, predicative-only.

Further reading

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