English

Adjective

transgender ‎(not comparable)

1. (narrowly) Having a gender (identity) which is different from the sex one was assigned at birth, e.g. being assigned male at birth but having a female gender or vice versa; or, pertaining to such people. (Compare transsexual, and the following sense.)
   • 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. (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 **** 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).

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 0756687640):

     The Las Vegas Lounge is the city's only transgender bar.

   • 2013, Norbert Paxton, The Rough Guide to Korea (ISBN 1409350592):

     Trance A thriving transgender bar on the main Itaewon drag, […]

4. (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 1442699973)
   • 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]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.

Derived terms

Synonyms

• TG (abbreviated form)
• transgendered (uncommon, offensive)

Antonyms

• cisgender

Related terms

Translations

Descendants

• Japanese: トランスジェンダー ‎(toransujendā)

Noun

transgender ‎(usually uncountable, plural transgenders)

1. (now rare) Transgenderism; the state of being transgender. (Compare transsex.)
   • 2007, Alison Stone, An Introduction to Feminist Philosophy (ISBN 074563883X), 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.

2. (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.

   • 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.

Usage notes

• Many transgender people consider the use of transgender (and similar adjectives) as a noun to be offensive, and several guides advise against such usage.^[5][6][7][8] "A transgender man" (for a man who was assigned to the female sex at birth) or "a transgender woman" (for the reverse) is frequently more appropriate.

Hypernyms

• LGBT

Coordinate terms

• two-spirit, berdache
• hijra

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 0765631563), 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 usage examples of this term, see Citations:transgender.

Related terms

See also

• LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQIA
• crossdress; drag
• SRS
• intersex
• acault
• sworn virgin

References

1. 1 2 Thomas E. Bevan, The Psychobiology of Transsexualism and Transgenderism (2014, ISBN 1440831270), 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. 1 2 Transgender Rights (2006, ISBN 0816643121), 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. 1 2 “transgender” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
4. ↑ “transgender” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.
5. ↑ 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."
6. ↑ Reuters Handbook of Journalism: Do not use transgender as a noun; no one should be referred to as “a transgender.”
7. ↑ Guardian and Observer style guide: use transgender [...] only as an adjective: transgender person, trans person; never "transgendered person" or "a transgender"
8. ↑ BBC News style guide: "Do not say 'transsexuals', in the same way we would not talk about 'gays' or 'blacks'."

Afrikaans

Adjective

transgender

1. transgender

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

From English transgender. See also gender.

Adjective

transgender ‎(invariable, not comparable)

1. transgender

See also

• transseksueel