Glossary of English gender and sex terminology

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This glossary of English gender and sex terminology shows actual language use. Unless a word is marked with a specific country, assume all these words may be used internationally, in any country where English is spoken.

This glossary's selection of words has a focus on nonbinary identities, and closely related subjects of gender non-conformity. This glossary also collects words about gender and sexuality, especially words used by or in reference to LGBT+ identities as well as intersex conditions, as these provide essential context, and often have an overlap with the main subject. The glossary includes psychiatric terminology as well as subcultural slang, and obsolete historical terms as well as very new words (neologisms). The words cover identity labels, gender-neutral pronouns, diagnoses, and political issues.

If you put more words into this glossary, try to only put in words that you wouldn't find in the average pocket dictionary. Give sources to show that the word is really used in the way you say, or, if the wiki has an entry about that word, link to it. Keep glossary entries short, about three lines long at most. If they get too long, make a new wiki article for them.

Although it is useful to learn how to understand specialized jargon, you can be more helpful to your readers if you keep your own writing easy to understand. When writing for this wiki, please try to use plain English as much as possible, and use specialized jargon only sparingly, and as needed.

A

• ace. Short for asexual, which see.
• AGAB. Assigned gender at birth. Most people are either assigned female at birth (AFAB) or assigned male at birth (AMAB).
• AFAB. See AGAB.

The most commonly used agender pride flag, created in 2014.

• agender. A nonbinary identity. 1. Some who call themselves agender have no gender identity (genderless). 2. Some who call themselves agender have a gender identity, which isn't female or male, but neutral.
• altersex. Describes people or fictional characters for whom "their actual body or their desired body does not conform to either binary sex standard in some way, but is not this way due to any variation of intersex. This can be due to sexual transitioning, being of a fictional/impossible sex, being able to shapeshift to change sex characteristics, or having an 'alien' sex that is not found in humans but may be found elsewhere, such as a species that has different sexes from our own." Coined by farorenightclaw. Intended to replace problematic terms like "futanari", "herm", "dickgirl", etc. Has been called transphobic by some and should not be applied to real life people who do not identify themselves as such.
• AMAB. See AGAB.

Androgyne symbol. In 1996, self-identified androgyne Raphael Carter proposed adopting this ambiguous geometric shape, the Necker Cube, as a symbol for androgynes, "because it is either concave or convex depending on how you look at it."

• ambonec. A nonbinary "gender identity in which you identify as both male and female, yet you also identify as neither, at the same time."
• androgyne. This word is used for a wide variety of gender nonconforming and nonbinary gender identities and gender expressions.
• androphilic. A romantic and sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to men or masculinity.
• angenital or ANG. "an identity in which you feel uncomfortable (potentially dysphoric) with having any sort of genitalia (sex) at all but do not mind gendered pronouns or having a gender label. You have a desire to be sexless but not necessarily genderless." Coined by uchuulien. See also genital nullification.
• aporagender. Coined in 2014, from Greek apo, apor "separate" + "gender". A nonbinary gender identity and umbrella term for "a gender separate from male, female, and anything in between while still having a very strong and specific gendered feeling" (that is, not an absence of gender).
• aromantic or aro. A romantic orientation in which a person doesn't feel romantic attraction to people of any gender.
• asexuality. A sexual orientation in which a person doesn't feel sexual attraction to people of any gender. Asexual people might still feel other types of attraction.
• a-spec or a-spectrum. The community of anyone who is in some way asexual or aromantic.

B

• berdache. An old word used by European-American people and anthropologists for gender roles in Native American cultures that are now called two-spirit.
• bi. Short for bisexual, which see.
• bigender. Bigender individuals have two gender identities, at the same time, or at different times.
• bigenital. Describes a person who wishes to have genitalia of both binary sexes. Not exclusive to nonbinary people. Synonyms​: aphrodisian, salmacian
• binarism. Discrimination against ethnic groups and cultures that recognize nonbinary genders, based on the sexist belief that there are only two genders (nonbinary erasure).
• binary gender. A gender identity that fits neatly into only one of the two genders in a gender binary system.
• binder. An undergarment that a person can wear to make their chest look flat. Some transgender men and some nonbinary people wear these to flatten their breast tissue, if they haven't had top surgery.
• biological boy. A less correct term for an AMAB person, which see.
• biological girl. A less correct term for an AFAB person, which see.
• bisexual. 1. (Obsolete) Intersex. 2. A sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to more than one gender (this can include nonbinary genders).
• boi. From "boy." A gender identity that is masculine and queer. Beyond that, the specific definition varies greatly across the LGBT+ community.
• bottom. A person who takes a submissive role in sexual activity.
• bottom surgery. In the transgender community, euphemism for any gender-validating surgery on a transgender person's reproductive organs or genitals.
• boydyke. An AFAB person with a masculine gender expression.
• boy mode. In transgender and nonbinary communities, this means using clothes and other gender cues in order to be read as a male. Example usage: "I had to go to the interview in boy mode" or "Today was my first day going boy mode in public."
• butch. A masculine gender identity or expression, which some see as a nonbinary gender.

C

• CAFAB. See CAGAB.
• CAGAB. Coercively assigned gender at birth. Most people are either coercively assigned female at birth (CAFAB) or coercively assigned male at birth (CAMAB). Unlike AGAB and GAAB, CAGAB emphasizes that the gender was assigned against the person's will, and implies that the person was abused as a child.
• CAMAB. See CAGAB.
• cisgender. From Latin cis "on the same side of" + "gender," "coined in 1995 by a transsexual man named Carl Buijs." A person who isn't transgender and isn't nonbinary. The Latin prefix cis ("on the same side of") is the opposite of the Latin prefix trans ("to the other side of").
• cissexism. A form of sexism, specifically, a way of thought in which only cisgender people are seen as normal or right. Cissexism is harmful to all kinds of transgender people, including nonbinary people.
• closet. To be "in the closet" means that a person is keeping their gender identity and/or sexual orientation a secret.
• come out. "To recognize one's sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex identity, and to be open about it with oneself and with others."
• cross-dreamer. Coined by cross-dreamer Jack Molay. Someone who feels sexually aroused by the thought of being a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth. They may or may not cross-dress or consider themselves transgender.
• cross-dresser. "Someone who wears clothes associated with another gender part of the time." A cross-dresser may consider themself to be cisgender or transgender.

D

• demigender. An umbrella term for nonbinary gender identities that have a partial connection to a certain gender, such as demiboy, demifluid, demiflux, demigirl, and deminonbinary.
• demiromantic. A romantic orientation in which a person feels romantic attraction only after getting to know someone.
• demisexual. An orientation in which a person feels sexual attraction only after forming a connection with them.
• DGAB. Short for Designated Gender At Birth. Most people are either Designated Female At Birth (DFAB) or Designated Male At Birth (DMAB).
• drag. A gender expression that is exaggerated for theatrical performance. Although usually cross-gender, and associated with the gay and lesbian communities, drag of any kind can be done by a person of any gender identity or sexual orientation. Drag kings make a performance out of masculinity. Drag queens make a performance out of femininity.
• DSD (short for Disorder of Sex Development or Difference of Sex Development) ​Any kind of intersex condition. Note: "DSD" terminology is controversial in the intersex community.
• dyadic. A person whose body is not intersex. Synonyms: perisex, endosex.
• dyadism. The sexist belief that humans have only two sexes, either female or male, resulting in discrimination against intersex people.

E

• e, em, eir, eirs, eirself. A set of gender-neutral pronouns, made popular by writer Michael Spivak in the 1980s. There are many similar sets with small differences.
• effeminate. A feminine man. Some see this as an offensive word.
• emasculation. A surgery to take away the penis and testicles.
• emoji pronouns. A type of pronoun set used in online communication. For example "🌸/🌸s/🌸self" or "🔥/🔥s/🔥s/🔥self".
• enban. Created in the "askanonbinary" blog in 2014, based on the word "enby", which see. A proper noun for a nonbinary adult person. A nonbinary equivalent of "man" or "woman". Another blogger, coderqueer, then offered the spelling variant "enbian."
• enbian. 1. An enban, which see. 2. Of or pertaining to nonbinary gender. 3. An orientation word for nonbinary people attracted to other nonbinary people, see Romantic and sexual orientation#Enbian.
• enbies. See enby.
• enby. Created in 2013 by a nonbinary person named vector (revolutionator). Based on an initialism of "nonbinary," "NB". A proper noun for a person with a nonbinary gender identity. This is the nonbinary gender equivalent of the proper nouns "boy" or "girl." Plural: enbies.
• enbyfan. equivalent of "fanboy" or "fangirl"
• enbyfriend. A nonbinary gender romantic partner. The nonbinary gender equivalent of a boyfriend or girlfriend. See enby.
• endosex. Adjective meaning "not intersex". Synonyms: dyadic, perisex.
• en femme. In cross-dressing communities, this means dressed as a woman.
• en homme. In cross-dressing communities, this means dressed as a man.
• eonism. Term for an AMAB person dressing as a woman. Coined by sexologist Havelock Ellis, derived from the name of a historical figure, Chevalier d'Éon.
• eunuch. A person who was assigned male at birth and had some or all of their private parts removed. Some transgender people think of themselves as eunuchs. Some think of eunuch as a nonbinary gender identity.
• exorsexism. A term for discrimination against nonbinary people, whether intentional or not. Coined in 2016 by tumblr user vergess. Also called enbyphobia.

F

• FAAB. See GAAB.
• Female. Anyone with a female gender identity is female. Regardless of what gender she was assigned at birth, or what kind of body parts she has or wants to have, if she identifies as female, then she is a woman or girl.
• female to male transsexual (FTM). A trans man. This term was coined by trans man Lou Sullivan, "in response to the custom of medical doctors and psychologists labeling us 'female transsexuals.'" FTM can also mean nonbinary people who transition in a way similar to trans men, and describe themselves as being on the FTM spectrum. Abbreviated FTM, F2M.
• femme, fem. A queer feminine gender identity or expression, which some see as a nonbinary gender.
• femboy. A boy or man whose gender expression is feminine may be called a femboy or may self-identify as such. Some femboys undergo hormone therapy to appear more feminine and/or less masculine, while still identifying as cisgender (though some end up later identifying as transgender). In the 2021 Gender Census, 223 respondents (0.50% of total respondents) wrote that they were femboys. Caution: "Femboy" should not be used against transfeminine people, as it is considered misgendering.
• FFS. Acronym for facial feminization surgery.
• fluid gender. A gender identity that changes.
• FMS. Acronym for facial masculinization surgery.
• FT*. Female to unspecified transgender. This term includes all transgender people who were assigned female at birth.
• FTF. Female to female. A term used by some trans women/transfeminine people because they feel "MTF" wrongly implies they were formerly male, or because they dislike having to note their sex assigned at birth. People using the label FTF might not identify as transgender.
• FTN. Female-to-neuter (or neutrois) transsexual (or transgender).

G

• GAAB. Gender Assigned At Birth. Most people are either Assigned Female At Birth (FAAB) or Assigned Male At Birth (MAAB). See also: AGAB, CAGAB, DGAB.
• gaff. An undergarment that helps with tucking, which see.
• GAS. Gender affirming surgery/surgeries.
• gatekeeper system. In the transgender community, this is slang for the system of health providers that decide whether to allow a transgender person to get gender-validating health care.
• GCS. Gender confirming surgery. Often refers to bottom surgery but can be used more broadly.
• girl mode. In transgender and nonbinary communities, this means using clothes and other gender cues in order to be read as a female. Example usage: "I had to go to the interview in girl mode" or "Today was my first day going girl mode in public."
• gender binary. A model of gender that classifies all people into one of two genders, female or male.
• gender dissonance. Gender dysphoria, which see.
• gender diverse/gender diversity. Alternate term for "nonbinary".
• gender dysphoria. A clinical term. In transgender people, emotionally painful discontent about some aspect of one's assigned gender. The aspect in question may be social gender dysphoria, body dysphoria, or other specific details, such as voice dysphoria. Some prefer the less clinical terms "gender incongruence" or "gender dissonance."
• gender expansive. "An umbrella term used for individuals who broaden their own culture's commonly held definitions of gender, including expectations for its expression, identities, roles, and/or other perceived gender norms. Gender expansive individuals include those who identify as transgender, as well as anyone else whose gender in some way is seen to be stretching the surrounding society's notion of gender."
• gender expression. "The way in which a person expresses their gender identity through clothing, behavior, posture, mannerisms, speech patterns, activities and more."
• genderfluid, or gender-fluid. A gender identity that often changes, so that a person may feel one day like a boy, and another day like a girl. Fluid gender.
• genderflux. A gender identity that often changes in intensity, so that a person may feel one day as though they have almost no gender, or none at all, and another day they feel very gendered. "Whereas genderfluidity is a shift between different genders, genderflux is more like varying intensity."
• genderfuck. A gender expression that intentionally mixes feminine gender markers with masculine.
• gender hoarder. "When your gender is fluid or flux, but you can’t find just a few terms to describe what your fluctuating gender is, so you 'hoard' gender terms that fit you."
• gender identity. "An individual's internal sense of gender, which may or may not be the same as one’s gender assigned at birth." Most people identify as the gender that they were assigned at birth. They are described as 'cisgender'.
• Gender Identity Disorder (GID). "The medical diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostics and Statistics Manual IV (DSM4) used to describe a person who experiences significant gender dysphoria (lack of identification with one’s sex and/or gender assigned at birth)."
• genderism. "The system of belief that there are only two genders (men and women) and that gender is inherently tied to one’s sex assigned at birth. It holds cisgender people as superior to transgender people, and punishes or excludes those who don't conform to society’s expectations of gender." See cissexism and nonbinary erasure. Note: when used by TERFs, "genderist" is a disparaging term for a person who "believes in gender ideology" (i.e. respects gender as self-identified, not based on biology).
• gender non-conformity (GNC). Regardless of gender identity or whether one is cisgender or transgender, resistance to conforming to a female or male gender expression.
• genderpunk. Another term for genderfuck.
• gender presentation. All the signs of a person's gender that other people can see.

Genderqueer flag by Marilyn Roxie in 2011. Lavender, as a mix of pink and blue, is for androgynes and MOGII. White is for agender. Dark chartreuse green (the inverse of lavender) is for gender outside the gender binary.

• genderqueer. An umbrella term covering non-normative gender identity and gender expression. Genderqueer can also be a specific identity.
• gender role. A society's norms for how to divide labor by gender.
• gender variant, gender variance. Gender expression that is different from Western cultural norms. Can mean gender non-conforming and/or transgender, as well as some non-Western gender roles.
• genetic boy. A less correct term for an AMAB person, which see.
• genetic girl. A less correct term for an AFAB person, which see.
• gray-asexual, or grey-romantic. A romantic or sexual orientation that partly lacks attraction to people of any gender.
• graygender, or greygender. Coined by Invernom. A nonbinary gender identity that is between agender and some other gender, so that it is difficult to place, and not fully the absence or presence of a gender. Compare demigender.
• GRS. Gender reassignment surgery.
• gynephilic. A romantic or sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to women or femininity.

H

• hermaphrodite. An old word for a person with an intersex condition. Some see this word as offensive, and therefore only intersex people can reclaim this word. Non-intersex people shouldn't use this word.
• he-she or heshe. 1. An offensive word for a transgender woman. Only trans women can reclaim it. Other people shouldn't use it. 2. Several sets of pronouns use heshe in the nominative form.
• heteroromantic. A romantic orientation in which a person feels romantically attracted to people of a different gender than their own.
• heterosexism or heteronormativity. A sexist way of thought in which only heterosexuality is seen as normal, resulting in discrimination against people of other sexual orientations.
• hir. Many sets of gender-neutral pronouns use this word in the accusative or possessive forms. Some such sets are heesh, hi, se, s/he, sie, and ze.
• homoromantic. A romantic orientation in which a person feels romantically attracted to people of the same gender as themself.

I

• Ind. Coined by Torin Unrealisk in 2014. A gender-neutral title, short for "individual."
• intergender. A certain nonbinary gender identity in between female and male. In the 1990s, this was an identity label that any person could use, even if they were born with non-intersex (dyadic) bodies, but others say it should only be used by people who were born with intersex bodies.
• intermediate sex. An outdated term that was used by Edward Carpenter in the early twentieth century to describe gender-variant people. This was "a newer term for 'uranian' and 'invert'" (see "inversion" below), and was later supplanted by the words "transsexual" and "transgender".

In 2013, the Organisation Intersex International (OII) Australia created this intersex pride flag. The circle symbolizes wholeness. The colors aren't derivatives of pink (female) or blue (male).

• intersex. 1. (obsolete) Homosexual. 2. Intersex people have some aspect of their sex that is inconsistent with conventional ideas of male and female sex, in their primary or secondary sexual characteristics, hormones, or chromosomes.
• institutional oppression. "Arrangement of a society used to benefit one group at the expense of another through the use of language, media education, religion, economics, etc."
• internalized oppression. "The process by which an oppressed person comes to believe, accept, or live out the inaccurate stereotypes and misinformation about their group."
• inversion. An early clinical term for "gender identity and role disturbance." Early psychologists used the word "invert" for gay, lesbian, and transgender people, all alike.
• invisible minority. "A group whose minority status is not always immediately visible, such as some disabled people and LGBT+IQ people. This lack of visibility may make organizing for rights difficult."

L

• Latin@ or Latinx. A gender-inclusive form of "Latino"/"Latina" (meaning a person with Latin American heritage). This word is controversial within Latino groups, thus should be used with caution. Some Latinos have offered the term Latine instead, as it takes into account Spanish pronunciation.
• lesbian. A person who identifies as a woman (or woman-aligned nonbinary person), who is romantically or sexually attracted to women (or women and women-aligned nonbinary people).

LGBT+ rainbow flag, representing diversity, based on the one designed in 1978.

• LGBT. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Can be extended to LGBT+, LGBTQIA, etc. to explicitly show inclusion of other groups.
• LGR. Legal Gender Recognition.

M

• MAAB. See GAAB.
• male. Anyone with a male gender identity is male. Regardless of what gender he was assigned at birth, or what kind of body parts he has or wants to have, if he identifies as male, then he is a man or boy.
• male to female transsexual (MTF). A trans woman.

Maverique flag, by Vesper H., 2014. Yellow: nonbinary, not derived from female (pink) or male (blue), but its own (yellow, a primary color can't come from any color mix). White: independence from the spectrum of other genders (colors). Orange: inner conviction.

• maverique. A specific nonbinary gender identity "characterized by autonomy and inner conviction regarding a sense of self that is entirely independent of male/masculinity, female/femininity or anything which derives from the two while still being neither without gender nor of a neutral gender."
• misgender. To address someone in a way that contradicts their gender identity. This can be accidental, but if intentional, it can be an example of discrimination against transgender people (cissexism).
• monosexual. A catchall term for sexual orientations that are attracted to only one gender (homosexual or heterosexual).
• MSM. Men who have sex with men. This term means that they don't necessarily identify as gay or bisexual.
• MT*. Male to unspecified transgender. This term includes all transgender people who were assigned male at birth.
• MTF. Male-to-female transsexual (or transgender). A trans woman.
• MTM. Male to male. A term used by some trans men/transmasculine people because they feel "FTM" wrongly implies they were formerly female, or because they dislike having to note their sex assigned at birth. People using the label MTM might not identify as transgender.
• MTN. Male-to-neuter (or neutrois) transsexual (or transgender).
• multigender people have more than one gender identity, either at the same time, or sometimes changing between them.
• multiromantic. See polyromantic.
• Mx. Coined in 1982 or earlier. Pronounced mux, mix, mixture, or mixter. A gender-neutral title.

N

• NB or nb. An abbreviation for nonbinary. In some contexts this abbreviation means "non-Black", so the alternate abbreviations nbi/NBI/NBi, N-B/n-b, or NBY/nby can be used to avoid confusion when talking about nonbinary people.
• neopronouns. Any pronoun that is not traditionally part of the language. In English, neopronouns are any third-person pronouns other than he/him, she/her, they/them, or it/its.
• neutrois. Coined by a neutrois person named H. A. Burnham in 1995. Having one nonbinary gender identity that is neutral. Not female, not male, and not a mix. Some neutrois people are transsexual, experience gender dysphoria, and want to get a physical transition.

Nonbinary flag by Kye Rowan in 2014. Yellow is for gender without reference to the gender binary. White: those with many or all genders. Purple: a mix of female and male. Black: without gender.

• non-binary gender, nonbinary gender, or nonbinary. An umbrella term for all who don't identify as just female or male. Though there are many kinds of nonbinary gender identities, some people identify as "nonbinary" only.
• non-op. A trans person who hasn't gotten surgery, and doesn't desire surgery in the future.
• nounself pronouns. In 2014, a community of nonbinary people on the social blogging site Tumblr.com came up with the idea of adapting any noun of one's choosing into a third-person pronoun, to create a wide variety of very personal and descriptive pronouns. The pronoun sets can be themed around concepts that have nothing to do with gender, such as nature, technology, or abstract concepts.

O

• orchiectomy. A kind of genital surgery.
• out. If someone is said to be out, that means they are open about their LGBT+ identity. If someone is said to have been outed, that means that their LGBT+ identity was made public by someone else, against their will.

P

• packer. An artificial soft phallus. Nonbinary and/or transgender people on the transmasculine spectrum may wear these in their clothes as part of making a more male body shape.
• pangender. A nonbinary gender identity that is made of a mix of all genders. Or a fluid gender that could potentially be any gender. However, "all" and "any" don't include genders that belong only to certain cultures or ethnic groups to which the person isn't entitled.
• panromantic The romantic orientation of being attracted to all genders.
• pansexual The sexual orientation of being attracted to all genders.
• passing. When a person is seen by others as their true gender, not as the gender they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people dislike this word, saying it gives the idea that they are being dishonest, when they are trying to be seen as they really are.
• passing woman. A historical term that describes cisgender women who presented themselves as men "in order to have access to a career or way of living that was available only to men."
• perisex. Adjective meaning "not intersex". Synonyms: endosex, dyadic.
• polyamory. A long-term romantic and/or sexual relationship between more than two people at the same time, all of whom consent to the arrangement.
• polygender. A gender identity in which a person has more than one gender identity, at the same time, or a mix.
• polyromantic, polysexual romantic and sexual (respectively) attraction to some, but not all, genders
• post-op. A trans person who has gotten surgery.
• person perceived as a man (PPM) and person perceived as a woman (PPW). Created by Rabbit KM in 2015. People perceived as men are usually seen and treated as men, but who don't identify as male. For example, masculine nonbinary people, and some trans women. Vice versa for people perceived as women. This term is useful for people who often get misgendered.
• pre-op. A trans person who hasn't gotten surgery yet.
• presentation. "The totality of one’s appearance, including attire, voice, behavior, body language, etc."
• pronouns. Words that stand in for nouns. In a trans or nonbinary context this usually refers to singular third-person pronouns such as he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, ze/hir/hirs, etc. Pronouns are part of a person's gender expression.
• pumping. A body modification to the phallus, which may be part of the physical transition of trans people in the female-to-male spectrum.

Q

• queer. A reclaimed slur for the LGBT+ community, and an umbrella term for identities that are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender. Some people use this as the name for their nonbinary gender identity.
• questioning. The process of figuring out one's sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
• QUILTBAG. Queer, undecided, intersex, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, asexual, gay.

S

• same-gender loving (SGL). Romantic and/or sexual attraction to the same gender. Originated in Black communities.
• secondary sex characteristics. "Physical characteristics that emerge with the onset of puberty, including but not limited to: facial and body hair growth, muscle development, voice changes, breast development, and the ability to reproduce."
• sex reassignment surgery. "A term used by some medical professionals to refer to a group of surgical options that alter a person's sex to match their sex identity." Generally this refers to the category of procedures colloquially called bottom surgery, but might also be used for other surgeries sometimes.
• she-male. An offensive word for a transgender woman. This word should be reclaimed only by trans women. Other people shouldn't use it.
• singular they. A gender-neutral pronoun that has been standard English for over a thousand years. During the last two centuries, grammarians dispute whether it is good grammar, or if a different word should be used as a gender-neutral pronoun instead.
• sissy. From "sister." An offensive word for a feminine boy. Also, a trans-feminine sexual identity.
• SOFFA. Short for Significant Others, Friends, Family, and Allies. This means people who aren't LGBT+, but who care about and help LGBT+ people.
• SRS. Sex Reassignment Surgery. Generally this refers to the category of procedures colloquially called bottom surgery, but might also be used for other surgeries sometimes.
• stealth. In the transgender community, this means that a transgender person is living so that other people see them as the gender they want to be, while keeping it a secret that they are transgender. Transgender women and transgender can be closeted, out, or stealth. In a culture that doesn't recognize nonbinary genders, it is impossible to be a stealth nonbinary person, because that society has no nonbinary role to enter. In that situation, the only two options are to be closeted (you make sure nobody knows you're nonbinary) or out (you make sure everybody knows you're nonbinary, which isn't stealth).
• stone. A certain queer sexual identity. Specific kinds include stone butch and stone femme. Some see these as nonbinary genders.
• stud. "An African-American and/or Latina masculine lesbian."
• STP. Acronym for "stand-to-pee (device)". Designed to be used by AFAB people to allow them to urinate standing up, and thus may be of interest to transmasculine individuals. The device may resemble a cis man's penis or it may take some other form. It may also be called by the slang term "pisser".

T

• T. In the transgender community, the hormone testosterone.
• TG. Short for "transgender".
• TGNB. Short for "transgender and nonbinary".
• theyby (plural theybies). A child who is being raised without assigned gender. See the page Children for more information.
• third gender. In anthropology, an umbrella term for ethnic non-cisgender/non-heterosexual gender roles, which may be analogous to transgender and sometimes nonbinary genders. Some consider this phrase offensive, and people should reclaim it only with caution.
• TMA. Stands for "transmisogyny affected". Used in social justice discussions as a descriptor for people who experience transmisogyny.
• TME. Stands for "transmisogyny exempt". Used in social justice discussions as a descriptor for people who do not experience transmisogyny.
• tomboy. A girl or woman whose gender expression is masculine may be called a tomboy or may self-identify as such.
• top surgery. In the transgender community, euphemism for any gender-validating surgery on a transgender person's breasts/chest.
• tranny. An offensive word for a transgender person. It was originally used against trans women.
• trans. Short for transgender or transsexual.
• trans*. The asterisk is meant to include both transsexual and transgender, and/or to indicate the inclusion of nonbinary identities. Considered offensive by some trans people.
• transactivism. The movement for rights for transgender people.
• Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs). A movement of cisgender women who fight against transgender rights, because they believe that transgender people are dangerous. They don't call themselves TERFs, but they do call themselves gender critical or gender abolitionists.
• transfeminine. A transgender person who transitions in a feminine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as female. They may have a nonbinary gender identity.
• trans-feminism, or transfeminism. The creation of this word in the late 1990s is credited to Diana Courvant and Emi Koyama. A feminist movement that takes into account transgender experience and rights.

Transgender flag designed by trans woman Monica Helms in 1999. Stripes for male (blue), female (pink), and other or transitioning (white).

• transgender. An umbrella term for those with gender identities that don't match the genders they were assigned at birth.
• transition. The process that individuals typically experiencing gender dysphoria go through to reach their desired social gender role, and/or physicality. There is no one definition of transition, as the term is based on the unique requirements of each individual.
• trans man. The correct term for a transgender person who has a male gender identity.
• transmasculine. A transgender person who transitions in a masculine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as male. They may have a nonbinary gender identity.
• transsexual, or transexual. A kind of transgender person who wants to physically transition to a different gender than they were assigned at birth.
• TS. Short for transsexual.
• tucking. A method that a person can use to hide their penis and testicles, to create a more feminine or androgynous body shape.
• trans-misogyny. Discrimination and hate crimes against transgender women.
• transphobia. Discrimination and hate crimes against transgender people.
• transvestite or TV. Coined by sexologist and openly gay man Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910. A clinical word for a cross-dresser. Some see "transvestite" as an offensive word, so it should be reclaimed with caution. The meaning of this word has changed a lot since it was coined. Some early sources use this word for transgender and transsexual people: "As late as 1951 many clinicians still used the term 'transvestism' to identify patients with profound gender pathology who requested SRS (Hertz et al., 1961)."
• trans woman. The correct term for a transgender person who has a female gender identity.
• tri-gender or trigender. Having three different gender identities, or a mix of them, or changing between them.
• truscum. In the 2010s, a movement of transsexuals (mostly trans men) who argue that a person is only really trans if they meet the diagnostic criteria of gender dysphoria, because they see transsexuality as only a medical condition. Some truscums also believe that people with nonbinary genders are pretenders who make binary trans people look ridiculous. Because this is a reclaimed slur, people who aren't transgender shouldn't use this word, and should instead say "trans medicalist" or "transmed" for short. Transgender people reacting to the truscum movement decided to call themselves "tucutes". Tucutes are opposed to dividing the transgender community into "true" and "fake" trans people.
• Two-spirit. Hundreds of Native American cultures have gender roles in addition to cisgender female and cisgender male. "Two-spirit" is the agreed-upon modern English umbrella term for these gender roles.

U

• ultergender. A proposed term describing "intersex people who identify as a gender other than their assigned gender at birth, but do not feel the term 'transgender' describes them"

W

• WLW. Short for "woman who loves women" (when used as singular noun)/"women who love women" (when used as plural noun). Used as an umbrella term.
• WSW. Short for women who have sex with women. They may or may not identify as bisexual or lesbian.
• womxn. A feminist spelling of "woman" which is meant to A) avoid containing the word "men" and B) highlight the inclusion of women of color, trans women, nonbinary women, and otherwise LGBTQ+ women. Ebony Miranda, a nonbinary feminist in Seattle, defined it as including "women and those affected by misogyny". This word has received criticism for excluding queer women and women of color from the word "woman".
• womyn. A variant spelling of "woman" or "women", pronounced the same way, but without including the words "man" or "men". The term "womyn" was promulgated in lesbian journals of the 1970s, but fell out of favor in the 21st century due to becoming associated with TERFs.
• womyn-born womyn. A euphemism for "cis woman". Some groups of women use this term to highlight the biological and social experience of growing up as and living as an AFAB (assigned female at birth) person.

X

• xe. Several sets of gender-neutral pronouns use "xe" in the nominative form.
• xenogender. Coined by Baaphomett in 2014. "A gender that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender; more concerned with crafting other methods of gender categorization and hierarchy such as those relating to animals, plants, or other creatures/things." An umbrella term for many nonbinary gender identities defined in reference to very different ideas than female or male.

Z

• ze. Several sets of gender-neutral pronouns use "ze" in the nominative form.

See also

• Gender neutral language
• List of nonbinary identities

External links

• Susan's Place Transgender Resources Wiki: Terms and definitions
• Gender Neutral Pronoun FAQ.
• J.M. Cottle, "Hallelujah, it's raining labels."
• Raphael Carter, "Angel's Dictionary."