berdache

The story

1. Arabic · derived fromبَرْدَج“slave”
2. Italian · derived frombardassa
3. French · borrowed frombardache
4. English todayberdache

From French bardache, from Italian bardassa, perhaps from Arabic بَرْدَج (bardaj, “slave”). Doublet of bardash.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 19th c. Among Native Americans, a person who identifies with any of a variety of gender identities which are not exclusively those of their biological sex; a transgender person.