Meanings
- uncountableThe act of condescendingly explaining transgender issues (as a cis person) to a trans person.
Nowhere was cisplaining more evident than in gender identity clinics.
2021, Zoë Playdon, The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience, page 2302 more examples
-For me what matters is whether they’d stop if I asked them, or whether I’d get this outburst of cisplaining!
2012, anonymous, "Discuss: LGBT Culture", No Definition (Cambridge Students' Union), Easter 2012, page 30I often thought that as a straight, cisgender woman, maybe activism “wasn't my place” and certainly didn't want to fall into the trap of “cisplaining,” if you get my meaning.
2015, Victoria Lemay, "Allies must stand for trans teens", QNotes, 16 January 2015 - 29 January 2015, page 4
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of cissplain
Translations
French cisplaining, cisplication
- cisplainingTranslations
- cisplicationTranslations
Cite this entry
cissplaining. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cissplaining
“cissplaining.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cissplaining. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cissplaining,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cissplaining.
Source: cissplaining on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.