transgender
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *terh₂-
Proto-Indo-European *-t
Proto-Indo-European *térh₂t
Proto-Indo-European *-ónts
Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂ónts
Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂n̥ts
Proto-Italic *trāns
Proto-Italic *trāns-
Latin trans-bor.
English trans-
Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os
Proto-Italic *genos
Latin genus
Old French gendrebor.
Middle English gendre
English gender
English transgender
The adjective sense is derived from trans- (“extending across, through, or over”) + gender, modelled after transsexual (adjective) and probably modified from transgenderism which was coined by the American psychiatrist John F. Oliven (1915–1975) in 1965; the terms transgender, transgenderal, transgendered, transgenderist, and similar terms arose in the decades after this. By the 1990s, the word transgender had acquired its current senses, and had also largely displaced the earlier term transsexual: see the usage notes.
The noun and verb senses are derived from the adjective. Regarding noun sense 2 (“synonym of transgenderism”), compare transsex (noun).
Base: gender
Affixes: trans-
Inflected forms:
form: trans-gender
pos: adj
tags: alternative
dated
form: transgener
pos: adj
tags: alternative
Internet
form: xgender
pos: adj
tags: alternative
abbreviation
form: transgenders
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: trans-gender
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dated
form: transgener
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Internet
form: xgender
pos: noun
tags: alternative
abbreviation
Senses:
gloss: Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is different from one's assigned sex; that is, the identity of a trans man, trans woman, or someone non-binary, for example, agender, bigender, or third-gender.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
not-comparable
examples: We have taken to the local radio station, to talk about transgender problems. Carol Fremont is working in this area, and by General Conference we should have some interesting insights and understandings to share regarding transgender persons.
Christine Jorgensen, the world's first highly publicized transsexual – or "trans-gender" patient – never planned to be famous because of her surgery.
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.
The film, "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives," is described by its creator, Israel Luna, as an homage to 1970s exploitation films. 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.
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.
When Kim Petras teamed up with English singer Sam Smith on "Unholy," a song about male infidelity and betrayal of the ideal of marriage, she may not have expected to make history. But now, the German pop singer Petras is the first transgender woman to win a coveted Grammy in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. At the Grammy Awards on February 5, 2023, Petras thanked "transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so that I could be here tonight." […] Back in October 2022, the duo Petras and Smith had already become the first publicly transgender and nonbinary solo artists, respectively, to have reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts with their single.
gloss: Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is different from one's assigned sex; that is, the identity of a trans man, trans woman, or someone non-binary, for example, agender, bigender, or third-gender.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
not-comparable
examples: 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.
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.
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.
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.
Transgender people, who identify as the opposite gender to the one they were born with, should no longer be considered mentally ill, according to a new UN categorisation. The World Health Organization issued a new catalogue Monday covering 55,000 diseases, injuries and causes of death, in which it discreetly recategorised transgenderism. […] Several countries have already taken steps to reclassify transgenderism and take it off the list of mental disorders, including France and Denmark. Say said she thought the text, which is the result of years of discussion among experts, would easily win approval, despite widespread lack of acceptance of transgender people in many parts of the world.
Transgender people report discomfort with their birth sex and a strong identification with the opposite sex. The current study was designed to shed further light on the question of whether the brains of transgender people resemble their birth sex or their gender identity. For this purpose, we analyzed a sample of 24 cisgender men, 24 cisgender women, and 24 transgender women before gender-affirming hormone therapy. We employed a recently developed multivariate classifier that yields a continuous probabilistic (rather than a binary) estimate for brains to be male or female. The brains of transgender women ranged between cisgender men and cisgender women (albeit still closer to cisgender men), and the differences to both cisgender men and to cisgender women were significant (p#61;0.016 and plt;0.001, respectively). These findings add support to the notion that the underlying brain anatomy in transgender people is shifted away from their biological sex towards their gender identity.
gloss: Of a person: transgressing or not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories of male or female.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
not-comparable
examples: 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 before, as well as less homophobic, racist, and sexist, not because it's politically correct, man, but because all of those things stink of a parent's world of authoritarian bullshit that want to deprive people of their individuality.
Less noticed, however, is that gender nonconformists have been working together, with some remarkable successes, to build a political movement. 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).
gloss: Of or pertaining to transgender people (adjective sense 1), or their experiences or identity.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: We have taken to the local radio station, to talk about transgender problems.
After having lived much of our lives according to a socially accepted prescription, many of us come to realize that we have not been true to ourselves. As full-time or part-time transgenderists, we feel the need to improve the quality of life for ourselves by creating an environment around us which is compatible with the kind of life style we wish to achieve. […] While looking for a change of apartments, I walked into the rental office of a large complex, looked at the models and then proceeded to tell the manager about myself … my work, my hobbies, and, yes, even my transgender lifestyle … but all in a very matter-of-fact and self-confident manner. The result was total acceptance. In fact, they invited me to return as Nancy to the Halloween party they were holding that same evening … and I did!
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.
The vision of The Matrix as an elaborate transgender allegory is now the ruling framework when considering the film’s historical significance, leapfrogging the initial frenzy over its technical achievements.
gloss: Of a space: intended primarily for transgender people.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Despite the significant HIV/AIDS risks faced by transgenders, we could locate targeted prevention programs in only a handful of locations throughout the country. […] In Boston, no AIDS prevention messages are posted at the primary drag queen and transgender bar.
The Las Vegas Lounge is the city's only transgender bar.
Trance […] A thriving transgender bar on the main Itaewon drag, […]
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.
gloss: Of a space: available for use by transgender people, rather than only non-transgender people.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Group wants transgender bathrooms for UMASS [title]
Why the sudden outcry for transgender bathrooms? The answer is easy, the activists behind this movement are using a petty issue like bathrooms as a medium to throw their lifestyles in the face of every-day students.
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, […]
gloss: Synonym of crossgender (“across multiple genders”).
pos: adj
tags: dated
not-comparable
examples: 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.
Those are the winning entries in the Chicago Association of Business Communicators' contest to find pronouns to replace she and he [ey], him and her [em], his and hers [eir]. […] [C]ontest winner Christine M. Elverson of Skokie says her words are "transgender pronouns." She formed them by dropping "the" from the familiar plural pronouns, they, them, and their. For example, a speaker might use these new transgender pronouns when ey addresses an audience of both men and women.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: A transgender person
pos: noun
tags: countable
offensive
often
usually
examples: "If you understand trans-genders," she [Christine Jorgensen] says, choosing the word she prefers to transsexuals, "then you understand that gender is different than sexual preference. It doesn't have to do with bed partners, it has to do with identity." Jorgensen says she knows of some male-to-female trans-genders who have settled into lesbian relationships. She herself is heterosexual.
transgender—an individual who lives as a person of a gender different from the one society defines for that person's sex (e.g., male "transvestites" who wear women's clothing, hair styles and other body accoutrements, use "feminine" speech and body language, and identify with the gender category woman). Also sometimes referred to as "cross-gendered people" (Blackwood 1984).
In a patriarchal society in which machismo rules, MTF [male-to-female] transgenders represent a challenge to traditional masculinity due to their renouncing of the male position of social power.
There were divisions for [netball] teams of men, women, mixed and transgenders. Individual transgenders could compete in any division; however, transgender teams could not play against biological women's teams.
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.
Nat spent years being victimised as a male to female transgender but was too scared to report it.
gloss: A transgender person
pos: noun
tags: countable
offensive
often
uncountable
usually
gloss: Synonym of transgenderism (“the state of being transgender”).
pos: noun
tags: rare
uncountable
usually
examples: In spite of not "rootin' and tootin'" as a trans-gender case, in recent years [Christine] Jorgensen has been a staple on the college lecture circuit, speaking – of course – about trans-gender and herself.
The Scientific Humanitarian Committee published a yearbook that reported on movement activities. It also documented literary, cross-cultural, cross-historical and scientific studies on same-sex love and transgender.
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.
Synonyms: T*
TG
trans*
trans-gender
transgenderal
transgendered
transgener
trans
Antonyms: cisgender
Related words: gender-free
transphobia
transsex
transsexual
transvestite
Derived words: antitransgender
nontransgender
tranniversary
tranny
trans
trans*
transexy
trans female
transgenderal
transgendercide
transgenderdom
transgendered
transgenderhood
transgenderisation
transgenderization
transgenderise
transgenderize
transgenderism
transgenderist
transgenderity
transgender marriage
transgenderness
transgirl
trans male
trans man
trans person
transsensual
transtrender
transvestigate
transvestigation
transvestigator
trans woman
Trantifa
troon
Translations:
lang: Basque
word: transgenero
lang: Catalan
word: transgènere
lang: Esperanto
word: transgenra
lang: Esperanto
word: transseksa
lang: Estonian
word: transsoolisus
lang: Finnish
word: transsukupuolinen
lang: French
word: transgenre
lang: French
word: trans
lang: Galician
word: transxénero
lang: German
word: transgender
lang: German
word: trans
lang: German
word: trans*
lang: German
word: transgeschlechtlich
lang: Hungarian
word: transznemű
lang: Icelandic
word: transfólk
lang: Indonesian
word: transgender
lang: Irish
word: trasinscneach
lang: Italian
word: transgenere
lang: Javanese
word: transgèndher
lang: Javanese
word: transgènder
lang: Kazakh
word: трансгендерлық
roman: transgenderlyq
lang: Macedonian
word: трансро́дов
roman: transródov
lang: Māori
word: irawhiti
lang: Nepali
word: पारलैङ्गिक व्यक्ति
roman: pārlaiṅgik vyakti
lang: Newar
word: यितामि
roman: yitāmi
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: transkjønnet
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: transperson
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: transkjønna
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: transperson
lang: Polish
word: transpłciowy
lang: Portuguese
word: transgénero
lang: Portuguese
word: transgênero
lang: Russian
word: трансгендерный
roman: transgendernyj
lang: Sardinian
word: transgènere
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: tar-ghnèitheach
lang: Spanish
word: transgénero
lang: Swedish
word: transsexuell
lang: Swedish
word: transperson
lang: Vietnamese
word: chuyển giới
lang: Vietnamese
word: hoán giới
lang: Vietnamese
word: đổi tính
lang: Welsh
word: trawsryweddol
lang: Arabic
word: تَحَوُّل الْجِنْسِيّ
roman: taḥawwul al-jinsiyy
lang: Armenian
word: տրանսգենդեր
roman: transgender
lang: Belarusian
word: трансге́ндар
roman: transhjéndar
lang: Bengali
word: রূপান্তরিত লিঙ্গ
roman: rupantorito liṅgo
lang: Breton
word: treuzrevelezh
lang: Bulgarian
word: трансджендър
roman: transdžendǎr
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 跨性別者 /跨性别者
roman: kuàxìngbiézhě
lang: Danish
word: transperson
lang: Esperanto
word: transgenrulo
lang: Esperanto
word: transseksulo
lang: Estonian
word: trans inimene
lang: Finnish
word: transihminen
lang: Galician
word: transexual
lang: Georgian
word: ტრანსგენდერი
roman: ṭransgenderi
lang: German
word: Transperson
lang: German
word: Transmensch
lang: German
word: Transgender
lang: German
word: Transgenderin
lang: Greek
word: διεμφυλικός
roman: diemfylikós
lang: Hebrew
word: טרנסג׳נדר
lang: Ido
word: transgenro
lang: Italian
word: transgender
lang: Japanese
word: トランスジェンダー
roman: toransujendā
lang: Japanese
word: 性別越境者
roman: seibetsu ekkyōsha
lang: Kazakh
word: трансгендер
roman: transgender
lang: Korean
word: 트랜스젠더
roman: teuraenseujendeo
lang: Latvian
word: transdzimums
lang: Malayalam
word: ഭിന്നലിംഗർ
roman: bhinnaliṅgaṟ
lang: Polish
word: osoba transpłciowa
lang: Romanian
word: transgen
lang: Romanian
word: transgender
lang: Russian
word: трансге́ндер
roman: transgénder
lang: Russian
word: транссексуа́л
roman: transseksuál
lang: Northern Sami
word: tránsaolmmoš
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: трансродно
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: transrodno
lang: Spanish
word: transgénera
lang: Swahili
word: msenge
lang: Tigrinya
word: ስግረ ጾተኛ
roman: səgrä ṣotäña
lang: Tigrinya
word: ስግረ ጾተኛዊት
roman: səgrä ṣotäñawit
lang: Ukrainian
word: трансге́ндер
roman: transhénder
lang: Ukrainian
word: трансге́ндерка
roman: transhénderka
lang: Ukrainian
word: трансґе́ндер
roman: transgénder
lang: Ukrainian
word: трансґе́ндерка
roman: transgénderka
lang: Welsh
word: trawsrywedd
lang: Yurok
word: wergern
lang: Yurok
word: wrgrn