male-to-female

American  

[meyl-tuh-fee-meyl] / ˈmeɪl təˈfi meɪl /

adjective

1. Sometimes Offensive. noting or relating to a person who was assigned male at birth but whose gender identity or gender expression is female.

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noun

1. Sometimes Offensive. a person who was assigned male at birth but whose gender identity or gender expression is female. MTF, MtF

Sensitive Note

Male-to-female was once the accepted terminology for women who were assigned male at birth. The term continues to be used in medical literature, and some transgender people do identify that way. Especially among younger transgender people, however, trans woman is now a more popular term for this demographic. For some people, the term male-to-female can be offensive for its implication that trans women were “originally” male, and have only now become female.

Etymology

Origin of male-to-female

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated placed pop star Kim Petras on one of the four covers of its annual women’s swimsuit edition, making the singer the second male-to-female transgender model to make the cover.

From Washington Times • May 18, 2023

It comes after Austin Killips became the first male-to-female transgender athlete to win a UCI women's stage race at the Tour of the Gila on Sunday.

From BBC • May 3, 2023

Professional guidelines call for hormone therapy — such as testosterone for female-to-male transition and estrogen for male-to-female — to begin around the age of 15 to 16.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2023

Girls who stutter are more likely to recover than boys; as a result, the male-to-female ratio among adults who stutter is about 4 to 1.

From Scientific American • Jan. 10, 2023

He emphasized that one of the biggest factor in deaths was crowd density and the male-to-female ratio of the crowd.

From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022