transgender

[trans-jen-der, tranz‑]

adjective

1. noting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond to that person’s sex assigned at birth: She identifies as transgender.

   The organization supports transgender rights.

   She identifies as transgender.

2. noting or relating to a person who does not conform to societal gender norms or roles.

noun

1. Usually Offensive.,  a person who is transgender.

transgender

/ ˌtrænzˈdʒɛndə /

adjective

1. of or relating to a person who wants to belong to the opposite sex

Sensitive Note

The term transgender has largely replaced the older term transsexual, which is now considered outdated, though some people within the community continue to identify with the word transsexual, especially older people. Transgender is a less clinical term, referring more to gender identity and gender expression than to physical sex characteristics or sexual orientation. It is also a more general and inclusive term: a transgender person may be nonbinary, gender-fluid, genderqueer, third gender, etc. Use of transgender as a noun (One of my colleagues is a transgender ) is declining and is usually taken as offensive. And many people object to the adjectival variant transgendered (One of my colleagues is transgendered ) because the –ed suffix seems to imply that something happened to make the person transgender. See also trans, transsexual.

Other Word Forms

• transgendered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of transgender¹

First recorded in 1970–75; trans- + gender ¹

Example Sentences

Jones urged Newsom to veto the bill and referenced the governor’s previous remarks about transgender athletes.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Stalled ; A judge indefinitely blocked the ban on transgender military members.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Spanberger later demurred on a question about whether boys who say they are transgender should be allowed to use girls’ bathrooms and play on girls’ sports teams in public schools.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Both, for example, make stipulations about binary definitions of gender that exclude transgender people.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Federal funding for research on particle acceleration, in other words, can’t be reasonably conditioned on a school’s policy on transgender bathrooms.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal