Wiktionary

transgender

EnglishEdit

 
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Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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]

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

transgender (not comparable)

  1. Having a gender (identity) which is different from the sex one was assigned at birth, or pertaining to a person who does.
    Coordinate terms: transsexual, nonbinary, genderqueer
    • 2010 March 3, Jessica Green, “I'm sorry, I'm not lesbian”, in The Guardian:
      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 April 7, Natasha Lennard, “City Room”, in New York Times:
      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.
    • 2017 July 27, Rauhala, Emily, “Transgender Chinese man wins first-of-its-kind labor discrimination case”, in The Washington Post‎[2], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 November 2017, WorldViews‎[3]:
      A Chinese court on Thursday found that a transgender man was unjustly fired from his job, a first-of-its-kind ruling that activists called a step forward in the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. […]
      Mr. C, a transgender Chinese man who says he was fired for wearing men's clothes, stands outside a court in Guiyang, China, July 27, 2017, holding the court’s ruling that his dismissal violated his employment rights.
    • 2017 November 26, Arrowsmith, Laura, “When doctors refuse to see transgender patients, the consequences can be dire”, in The Washington Post‎[4], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 November 2017, Health & Science‎[5]:
      It should be noted that not all of the people who identify as transgender feel themselves to be of the opposite sex. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Discrimination Survey of approximately 28,000 trans people showed that many respondents identified themselves variously as gender non­binary, androgynous, gender nonconforming, gender queer, gender fluid or agender. Younger generations are moving beyond the idea that one must live in the world with a strictly binary (male or female) gender identity.
    • 2021 June 22, Anders, Caroline, “More than 1 million nonbinary adults live in the U.S., a pioneering study finds”, in The Washington Post‎[6], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 June 2021, Social Issues‎[7]:
      More than 1 in 10 LGBTQ adults between ages 18 and 60 identifies at nonbinary, the Williams Institute found, and more than three-quarters of nonbinary adults are 29 and under. Though most nonbinary respondents identified as cisgender, the study found 32 percent of transgender adults are nonbinary. […]
      Boyer is one of the approximately 42 percent of nonbinary adults who identify as trans. Transgender is a term for people whose gender does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
      “Definitionally, I am not cisgender,” they said. “So the umbrella is trans-ness, and my flavor of trans-ness just happens to be genderqueer.”
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.
    1. (strictly, see usage notes) 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.
      • 1988, Lynn, Merissa Sherrill, “Definitions of Terms Commonly Used in the Transvestite-Transsexual Community”, in The TV-TS Tapestry‎[8], number 51, International Foundation for Gender Education, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22:
        Gender identity is whether or not a person perceives him/herself to be a man or woman (see ‘man’ and ‘woman’). The problem arises when a male perceives himself to be a woman, and vise versa[sic – meaning vice versa]. Notice I said man or woman, and not male or female. The difference is important. Male and female are biological terms, while man and woman as they are used here are modes of being, ways to be, which are based on psychology and sociology rather than biology. (see ‘gender dysphoria’)
        Sexual identity is a ‘transsexual’ issue and may involve sexual re-assignment surgery, but may not involve cross-dressing. Gender identity is a ‘transgender’ issue and does not involve surgery, but almost always involves cross-dressing.
      • 1990, Sullivan, Louis, “Epilogue”, in From Female to Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland‎[9], Boston: Alyson Publications, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 174:
        What is happening in the world at the time, restrictions or freedom in sex-role choices, or in access to clothing fabrics and styles — none of these have much influence on the transgender person’s desire to be the opposite sex.
      • 2012 December 19, “Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Sexual Abuse and Assault in Confinement Facilities”, in Federal Register‎[10], volume 77, number 244, United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 75332, 75337:
        Transgender means a person whose gender identity (i.e., internal sense of feeling male or female) is different from the person’s assigned sex at birth. […]
        The facility should not base placement decisions of transgender or intersex detainees solely on the identity documents or physical anatomy of the detainee: a detainee’s self-identification of his/her gender and self-assessment of safety needs shall always be taken into consideration as well.
      • 2015 August 29, Machell, Ben, “The transgender kids”, in The Times‎[11], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 March 2023‎[12]:
        She emphasises that being transgender really has nothing to do with your anatomy. There are terms for individuals who have undergone sex reassignment surgery – “transexed”, for example – whereas to be transgender is simply to have the conviction that you are the opposite gender to the body you have been assigned.
      • 2018, Gazzaniga, Michael S., “Human Development”, in Psychological Science‎[13], 6th edition, W. W. Norton, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 367:
        Biology has a strong effect on whether people identify as female, male, or transgender. A transgender person was born as one biological sex but feels that her true gender identity is that of the other sex. One theory of why gender and biological sex differ for those who are transgender has to do with timing of hormonal events during pregnancy.
      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.
  2. (loosely, inexact) Transgressing or not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories of male or female.
    Coordinate terms: gender-nonconforming, genderplay, genderfuck
    • 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 February 20, John Cloud, “Trans across America”, in Time:
      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).
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.
  3. (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[14], archived from the original on 03 September 2022, Culture‎[15]:
      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.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.
  4. (of a space) Available for use by transgender people, rather than only 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, […]
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.
  5. Crossgender.
    • 1967 March, Leary, John P., “Woman in American Society Today”, in Thought: A Review of Culture and Idea‎[16], volume XLII, number 164, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 116:
      Of course some unhappiness is simply a transgender phenomenon. Realists learn to expect a day in which perhaps 40 to 80 per cent is made up of repetition of what was done the day before and the day before that. Any set of normal days with over 20 per cent of excitement in them would be extraordinary. Consequently, the mere fact of being human, whether male or female, requires endurance, tolerance, a sense of moderate wholesome expectations.
    • 1982, Ruddick, Sara, “Maternal Thinking”, in Rethinking the Family: Some Feminist Questions‎[17], →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 91:
      Unless we have identified "male" and "female" aspects of thought, however, the claim of gender bias is an empty one. I do not doubt that disciplines are also shaped by transgender interests, values, and concepts, which women, whether or not they engage in maternal practices, may fully share.
    • 1984, Petchesky, Rosalind Pollack, “Conclusion: The Feminist Movement and the Conditions of Reproductive Freedom”, in Abortion and Woman's Choice: The State, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom‎[18], →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 391:
      Unlike capitalism, under socialist transformation there is a normative basis for maintaining the principle of collective (transgender) responsibility in the activity of reproduction and childrearing, as in everything else.
    • 1988, Jones, Tara, “Against Toxic Capital”, in Corporate Killing: Bhopals Will Happen‎[19], Free Association Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 273:
      Not only do men share in the responsibility for children - but also, toxic chemicals that affect women’s reproductive health do not bypass the male reproductive system. In Bhopal, for example, impotence and loss of libido were reported among a large proportion of exposed males. Reproductive effects are a transgender issue that men as well as women should address.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgender.

Usage notesEdit

  • The term transgender was coined in 1965[1] and popularized in the 1970s,[3][4] and by the 1990s it had largely displaced the older 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; see that entry for more.) Transgender is an umbrella term, encompassing trans men and trans women, and often also encompassing nonbinary people;[6] using transgender to refer strictly to people with a binary gender identity is often now considered offensive and exclusionary towards non-binary people.
  • For the usage of this word (and similar adjectives) as a noun, see below.

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

HypernymsEdit

HyponymsEdit

not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

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 notesEdit

  • 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.[7][8][9][10] "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.

HypernymsEdit

Coordinate termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

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 notesEdit

  • 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.[9] "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.

Related termsEdit

Related terms

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 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. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “transgender”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  4. ^ “transgender”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  5. ^ “transgender,transsexual”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer‎[1], accessed December 5, 2017
  6. ^ The SAGE Encyclopedia of Filipina/x/o American Studies, 2022; republished as ‎Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, editor,, (please provide a date or year):
    Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity or lived experience does not match their sex assigned at birth. It can be used to describe people who were assigned a binary sex at birth [...] and who identify with the other binary sex [...]. Transgender can also be used to identify people who identify with a nonbinary gender.
  7. ^ 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."
  8. ^ Reuters Handbook of Journalism: Do not use transgender as a noun; no one should be referred to as “a transgender.”
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Guardian and Observer style guide: use transgender [...] only as an adjective: transgender person, trans person; never "transgendered person" or "a transgender"
  10. ^ BBC News style guide: "Do not say 'transsexuals', in the same way we would not talk about 'gays' or 'blacks'."

AfrikaansEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

transgender

  1. transgender

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English transgender. See also gender.

PronunciationEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

transgender (invariable, not comparable)

  1. transgender

NounEdit

transgender m or f (plural transgenders)

  1. A transgender person.

See alsoEdit

GermanEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

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[20], →ISSN:
      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)

DeclensionEdit

Indeclinable, predicative-only.

Further readingEdit

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