drag queen

[drag kween]

noun

Slang.

1. a performer, typically one who was assigned male at birth, whose act involves a stylized and exaggerated interpretation of femininity that plays with stereotypical gender themes.

drag queen

noun

1. a male who dresses as a woman and impersonates female characteristics for public entertainment

2. slang,  a male transvestite

Word History and Origins

Origin of drag queen¹

First recorded in 1960–65; drag (in the sense “wearing clothes characteristic with a different sex”) + queen (in the sense “flamboyantly effeminate gay man”)

Idioms and Phrases

A male transvestite; also, a female impersonator. For example, He was surprised to find out that Roxanne was actually a drag queen. This term uses the slang noun drag in the sense of “female attire worn by a man” (a usage dating from about 1870; also see in drag). [Offensive slang; c. 1940]

Example Sentences

“We come from the underground. But so did any drag queen old enough to have started before there was a TV show dedicated to it,” Jinkx says, emphasizing how in the early 2000s drag queens were almost always underdogs and rarely financially successful.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The drag queen's departure was announced by presenter Tess Daly at the start of Saturday's episode from Blackpool, saying she had had to withdraw on medical advice.

Read more on BBC

"No one saw it coming," drag queen and Strictly star La Voix said.

Read more on BBC

From Jinkx Monsoon, a drag queen and actress who played Mary earlier this year, Krakowski learned to treat the role almost as if she were singing the whole time, with “that quality of support and of vocal breath.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The line also sounds remarkably comfortable coming out of the mouth of a drag queen — one of the many sides of shade served in the generously funny and sharp “Queens of the Dead.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bio queen 
• drag artist