transvestite

English

Etymology

From Latin trans + vestite, form of vestiō (“I clothe, I dress”) (as in English vestment, vest). Literally, a "cross-dresser". From transvestitism, from German Transvestitismus, coined in 1910 by Magnus Hirschfeld (the practice itself is much older).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹænzˈvɛstaɪt/

Noun

transvestite (plural transvestites)

1. A person who sometimes wears clothes traditionally worn by and associated with the opposite sex; typically a male who cross-dresses occasionally by habit or personal choice.

Usage notes

• This term is relatively formal (Latinate); cross-dresser is more casual, but whereas the verb cross-dress is common, the verb transvest is quite rare.
• Transvestite should not be confused with transgender (see that term for more); transvestites are often happy with their gender and have no desire to change their sex, but simply enjoy being able to cross-dress from time to time. When speaking of to or about an individual who identifies as transgender, the term transvestite is typically seen as derogatory.
• The term should also not be confused with drag queen (“person who performs femininity”) or drag king (“person who performs masculinity”); those terms are specifically for performers.

Synonyms

• cross-dresser
• (pejorative) tranny
• TV
• see also Thesaurus:transvestite

Derived terms

Derived terms

• transvestic fetishism
• transvestic

• transvestism
• transvestitism

Related terms

• transgender
• transsexual

Translations

cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} خول (ar)
• Catalan: transvestit (ca) m, transvestida (ca) f, travestí (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 契第 (kai³ dai⁶)

  Mandarin: 易裝癖／易装癖 (yìzhuāngpǐ), 易装癖 (yìzhūangpì), 人妖 (zh) (rényāo)

  Min Nan: ah qua / ah kua (Hokkien)

• Czech: transvestita m
• Danish: transvestit c
• Dutch: travestiet (nl) m
• Esperanto: transvestulo, transvestulino (female)
• Finnish: transvestiitti (fi)
• French: travesti (fr) m, travelo (fr) m
• German: Transvestit (de) m, Transvestitin (de) f, Transe (de) f, Transi m
• Greek: τραβεστί (el) m or f (travestí)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: transzvesztita
• Indonesian: banci (id)
• Irish: trasfheisteoir m
• Italian: travestito (it) m
• Japanese: 異性装者 (いせいそうしゃ, iseisōsha)
• Navajo: háádadiitʼįįhígíí, łaʼinidílnééh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: transvestitt m

  Nynorsk: transvestitt m

• Polish: transwestyta m, transwestytka f
• Portuguese: travesti (pt) m or f
• Russian: трансвести́т (ru) m (transvestít)
• Serbo-Croatian: трансвестит m, transvestit m
• Spanish: travesti (es) m or f, transformista (es) m or f (Venezuela)
• Swedish: transvestit (sv) c
• Turkish: travesti (tr)