drag king

noun

A person, usually female, who dresses up in men's clothing, typically in an exaggerated fashion and for public performance.

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Meanings

noundrag king (plural drag kings)

plural drag kings

  1. colloquialA person, usually female, who dresses up in men's clothing, typically in an exaggerated fashion and for public performance.

    Part of an ongoing ethnography of an imperial sovereign court I am undertaking, this chapter explores the world of the lesbian drag king and the gendered performance she undertakes in this realm.

    1973, Abstracts in Anthropology, volume 4, Google Books

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
male impersonator

Origin

From drag (“men's clothing worn by women”) + king, by analogy with drag queen. First use appears c. 1954 in the newspaper National City News (California).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Esperanto dragreĝo, reĝiĉjo
  • dragreĝofemale who dresses up in men's clothing
  • reĝiĉjofemale who dresses up in men's clothing
French drag king
  • drag kingfemale who dresses up in men's clothing
Hungarian férfiimitátor
  • férfiimitátorfemale who dresses up in men's clothing
Polish drag king
  • drag kingfemale who dresses up in men's clothing
Portuguese drag king
  • drag kingfemale who dresses up in men's clothing
Russian дрэг-ки́нг
  • дрэг-ки́нг (drɛg-kíng)female who dresses up in men's clothing
Cite this entry
APA

drag king. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drag%20king

MLA

“drag king.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drag%20king. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drag king,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drag%20king.

Source: drag king on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.