Meanings
verbcissplain (third-person singular simple present cissplains, present participle cissplaining, simple past and past participle cissplained)
present singular third person cissplains · participle present cissplaining · participle past cissplained · past cissplained · alternative cis-splain · alternative cisplain
- InternetcolloquialderogatoryTo explain transgender issues, people or behavior to a trans person (as a cis person) in a condescending manner, presuming the listener’s inferior understanding.
Don’t ask us about transgenderism only to cissplain how we’re still “really” our birth sex and always will be.
2012, Natalie Reed, "How To Ask A Trans Person Questions Without Being Insensitive About It", quoted in Benjamin Zimmer, Jane Solomon, & Charles E. Carson, "Among the New Words", American Speech, Volume 89, Issue 4 (2014), page 480
Origin
From cis + -splain, after mansplain.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
cissplain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cissplain
MLA
“cissplain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cissplain. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cissplain,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cissplain.
Source: cissplain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.