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transvestite

UK/tɹænzˈvɛs.taɪt/US/tɹænzˈvɛs.taɪt/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,663 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: transvestites

A transvestite is somebody who dresses in the clothes of the other sex. A transvestite performer, the word transvestite, dressed as a transvestite.

The word is dated and many people find it clinical or hostile; cross-dresser is the usual modern term. It describes what somebody wears and says nothing about their gender identity, so it is not another word for transgender and should not be used as one.

Definitions of transvestite

  1. 1nountransvestiteSomebody who dresses in the clothes of the other sex.B2+

    “He was open about being a transvestite and often wore dresses and make-up at home.”

transvestite is a person.

Where it comes from

Coined in German in 1910 from Latin trans, across, plus vestire, to clothe.

  1. German

    Transvestitismus

  2. Latin

    trāns

  3. English, today

    transvestite

Built from

  • vestiō · Latin — to clothe, to dress

Latin trāns + vestītus, form of vestiō (“to clothe, to 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).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

transvestite in the wild

  • Ernst-Johann "Ernie" Reinhardt, better known as Lilo Wanders, is a German transvestite actor, comedian and theatre/television host.

    Lilo Wanders

  • One of few "cross-dressing" films in which the hero is actually a transvestite, therefore having pure intentions, unlike Some Like It Hot, Tootsie, Mrs.

    Just like a Woman (1992 film)

  • Franca Rame plays Elizabeth I of England, while Fo plays her transvestite cosmetic adviser.

    Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman

  • Another word with wide currency in Bahasa Binan, but actually typical of standard Indonesian informal word formation, is waria from wanita (woman) + pria (man), meaning "transvestite".

    Bahasa Binan

  • One of Huquier's subjects was Chevalier d'Eon, an early transvestite.

    James Gabriel Huquier

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the vestiō family

investmentinvest

transvestite — used about once every 2,055 pages · #6,663 · point at the bar for the others