Gender & Sexuality dictionary
t-girl
or T-girl [ tee-gurl ]
What does t-girl mean?
A t-girl is a term for a transgender girl or woman. Some in the LGBTQ+ community embrace the term, while others find it offensive.
Where does t-girl come from?
T-girl is based on transgender woman or trans woman, a person who was assigned male at birth but whose gender identity is female. T is short for trans(gender) and girl, of course, is a term for a young female. The transgender man equivalent of a t-girl is t-boy.
Early instances of t-girl online are found in personals posted on gender-and-sexuality-based Usenet groups in the late 1990s. Today, t-girl is sometimes used in the pornography industry to label or promote content. Some have argued that this use of t-girl fetishizes or objectifies transgender woman, while others argue that it does not affect the meaning of the word.
Examples of t-girl
Who uses t-girl?
The term t-girl is disputed within the LGBTQ+ community. Some transgender woman identify as t-girls. As noted, others find t-girl offensive, especially because the term is associated with pornography featuring transgender women.
Because of the term’s potential offensive nature, it’s always best to ask a person about their identification preferences. Additionally, calling a woman a girl (outside contexts where women themselves are using it playfully or affectionately) can be perceived as sexist.
hey if you’re cisgender you’re not allowed to use tr*nny, t-girl, transgenders, transgenderism and a number of other things. whether you’re talking to a queer person or not! be respectful. these terms are outdated and offensive!
— lady luck Ⓥ (@gorestruly666) June 24, 2019
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of t-girl like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of t-girl that will help our users expand their word mastery.
