transsexual
Americannoun
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transsexuals
plural
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a person whose gender identity does not correspond to their sex assigned at birth; transgender.
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a person who has undergone or wants to undergo hormone therapy or surgery to align their physical characteristics more closely with their gender identity.
adjective
noun
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a person who permanently acts the part of and completely identifies with the opposite sex
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a person who has undergone medical and surgical procedures to alter external sexual characteristics to those of the opposite sex
Sensitive Note
The vocabulary around transsexualism originated in medical study of human sexuality. In the 1980s, transsexualism was listed as a mental illness in the manuals of the American Psychological Association and the World Health Organization. Transsexual and transsexualism are generally no longer used in the medical or psychological professions, having been replaced by gender dysphoria in medical terminology. Today, the transsexual identity is perceived to fall under the wider umbrella term trans, though it is not exactly equivalent to the term transgender. Transsexual is still sometimes the preferred term among older trans people who have been using the term transsexual to describe their own identity for years. However, owing to the previous association of transsexual with a mental disorder diagnosis, and a history of disparaging use in popular culture, the term is now often considered offensive in general use, especially among younger speakers. There is also some tension between the terms transsexual and transgender, the former term associated with external and physical markers of gender identity, and the latter with internal identification along a gender continuum. Still other speakers use the two terms interchangeably. As always when using identity labels, the best choice is the one with which the person in question self-identifies. See also transgender.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of transsexual
First recorded in 1905–10, for an earlier sense; 1955–60 for the current senses; trans- + sexual, originally in transsexualism, coined in 1953 by German-American sexologist Harry Benjamin (1885–1986)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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In addition to anti-Trump signs, the crowd carried flags supporting transsexual rights as well as the flags of Ukraine and Minnesota.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
The terms in question are: Gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2025
The FA rules note: "Gender reassignment is one of nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, and as such transsexual people are protected against discrimination."
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2024
“There is nothing in current universal law that prohibits a transsexual from being a witness to a wedding,” the document states.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
Peter Luce had appeared on Phil Donahue along with two hermaphrodites and a transsexual to discuss both the medical and psychological aspects of these conditions.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"This is a fantastic opportunity for all of us transsexuals," Segovia said, as she entered the auditorium.
From Reuters ● Nov. 19, 2023
“In the past, I expressed the belief that this legislation is extraneous because transsexuals are protected under the current human rights law,” said Bloomberg.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2020
He told the BBC that the "treatment" lasted between eight and 18 months, and longer for transsexuals.
From BBC ● May 2, 2017
In the years that followed, while other transsexuals quietly sought treatment abroad, too, no real transgender community developed.
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2015
I think by the time I was a grown adult, there was one thin softcover booklet about transsexuals, and I read that, but there was nothing else available.
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
