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

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

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

The International Olympic Committee previously recommended that sports federations adopt a standard for male-to-female transgender athletes of 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months before competition, but in November, the IOC overhauled its guidance.

From Washington Times • Dec. 26, 2021

During his peak years, Biber was doing up to four gender confirmation surgeries a week, for both male-to-female and female-to-male patients.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 11, 2019