English
transgender
Etymology

The adjective is derived from trans- + gender, modelled after transsexual 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.

The noun and verb are derived from the adjective.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /tɹænzˈd͡ʒɛndə/, /tɹɑːnz-/, /tɹæns-/
  • (America) IPA: /ˌtɹænzˈd͡ʒɛndɚ/, /ˌtɹæn(t)s-/
Adjective

transgender (not comparable)

  1. (broadly) 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. [from 1974]
    Coordinate terms: transsexual, nonbinary, genderqueer
    • 2010 March 3, Jessica Green, “I’m sorry, I’m not lesbian: My being a straight editor of Pink News has confused and angered some – but it shows how far gay rights have come”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[https://web.archive.org/web/20230811153354/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/03/pink-news-editor-not-gay], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-08-11:
      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: Transgender film draws protests at festival site”, in The New York Times‎[https://web.archive.org/web/20231223034948/https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/transgender-film-draws-protests-at-festival-site/], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-12-23:
      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.
    • 2017 July 27, Emily Rauhala, “Transgender Chinese man wins first-of-its-kind labor discrimination case”, in The Washington Post (WorldViews section)‎[https://web.archive.org/web/20171111094409/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/27/transgender-chinese-man-wins-first-of-its-kind-labor-discrimination-case/?utm_term=.e6cd1e60fa91], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2017-11-11:
      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.
    1. (narrowly) Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is opposite from the sex one was assigned at birth: being assigned male but having a female gender, or vice versa (that is, not including a non-binary identity).
      • 2015 August 29, Ben Machell, “The transgender kids”, in The Times‎[https://web.archive.org/web/20230322111552/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-transgender-kids-kprmxnkf358], London: News UK, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-03-22:
        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.
  2. (loosely) Of a person: transgressing or not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories of male or female.
    Coordinate term: gender-nonconforming
    • 2001 June 24, John Cloud, “Trans across America”, in Time‎[https://web.archive.org/web/20240316182655/https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,139585,00.html], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from [https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,139585,00.html the original] on 2024-03-16:
      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).
  3. Of or pertaining to transgender people (), or their experiences or identity.
    • 2017 July 27, Emily Rauhala, “Transgender Chinese man wins first-of-its-kind labor discrimination case”, in The Washington Post (WorldViews section)‎[https://web.archive.org/web/20171111094409/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/27/transgender-chinese-man-wins-first-of-its-kind-labor-discrimination-case/?utm_term=.e6cd1e60fa91], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2017-11-11:
      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.
  4. Of a space: intended primarily for transgender people.
  5. Of a space: available for use by transgender people, rather than only non-transgender people.
  6. (dated) Synonym of crossgender [from mid 20th c.]
Synonyms Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Noun

transgender (uncountable)

  1. (countable, now, often, offensive) A transgender person; also (preceded by the), transgender people collectively.
    Synonyms: transgenderal
  2. (uncountable, rare) Synonym of transgenderism
Translations Verb

transgender (transgenders, present participle transgendering; simple past and past participle transgendered) (transitive, often, offensive, uncommon)

  1. To change the gender of (someone).
  2. (loosely) To change the sex of (someone).


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