transvestite
Americannoun
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transvestites
plural
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Psychiatry. a person, especially someone assigned male at birth, who assumes the dress and manner usually associated with a different gender.
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Older Use: Often Offensive. crossdresser. TV
adjective
noun
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a person who seeks sexual pleasure from wearing clothes that are normally associated with the opposite sex
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any cross-dresser See cross-dressing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of transvestite
First recorded in 1925–30; from German Transvestit; see transvestism, -ite 1
Compare meaning
How does transvestite compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A man who identifies himself as a transvestite likes to wear clothing that is typically thought of as feminine or womanly. You can also use the word transvestite to talk about a woman who enjoys wearing men's clothes, although it more frequently describes a man. Before you call anyone a transvestite, however, make sure the person doesn't consider the word offensive — it's more common these days to use the term cross-dresser.
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.
See Examples For:
I am not gay, I am not straight, I am not a drag queen, I am not a transvestite, I am Jackie.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025
“Each position will be occupied by the best, most capable person, be it a man, a woman, a transvestite or anything else.”
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2024
Liddy Bacroff of Hamburg also had a transvestite pass under the Republic.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2023
"The only thing I have that identifies me as a transvestite is my ID," she said.
From Reuters ● May 6, 2022
Young boy slowly falling under the influence of a decadent uncle who is a transvestite.
From Checklist A complete, cumulative Checklist of lesbian, variant and homosexual fiction, in English or available in English translation, with supplements of related material, for the use of collectors, students and librarians. by Marion Zimmer Bradley
In the 1930s, transgender people were called "transvestites," a term that is offensive today but at the time approximated what's now meant by "transgender."
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2023
Or, as her brother, the poet Howard Nemerov, put it, “freaks, professional transvestites, strong men, tattooed men, the children of the very rich.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2022
Remember that transvestites and gay street people are always on the front lines and are ready to lay their lives down for the movement.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2019
"The tourists were returning, promenading down Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue, mingling with the Latinos, gays, transvestites, crazies and kids step-dancing along the sidewalk with beatboxes to their ears."
From BBC ● May 20, 2019
Beardsley’s transvestites and hermaphrodites are still marvellous to look at, but the pleasure is considerably amplified when one notices his witty references to Botticelli, Dürer, even Holbein the Younger.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 14, 2016
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.
