meta-gender

A form of metagender — The use of categories to conceive of gender; the possible ways in which gender can manifest itself.

Meanings

nounmeta-gender (countable and uncountable, plural meta-genders)

plural meta-genders

  1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of metagender.

    The Bugis, an Indigenous Indonesian ethnic group, recognize three sexes, four genders, and a meta-gender.

    2016, Lasara Firefox Allen, Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    A still more nuanced gender-system exists in Sulawesi, in the Indonesian archipelago, where among the Bugis people there are “three sexes (female, male, intersex), four genders (women, men, calabai [false woman], and calatai [false man], and a fifth meta-gender group, the bissu [literally 'transvestite priest,' but in fact hermaphroditic]” (Graham, 2001).

    2012, David Buchbinder, Studying Men and Masculinities, →ISBN

    Some students would be homosexual, some trans-gender, but Mr. Dame suspected that Joey was one of the occasional still-confused youngsters of meta-gender: always outside any identifiable boundary and stuck being uncomfortable in their own skin.

    2014, Jason Miller, Anisha Datta, Mr. Dame Among the Pages: An Uncommon Guide to Common Literature, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

meta-gender. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meta-gender

MLA

“meta-gender.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meta-gender. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meta-gender,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meta-gender.

Source: meta-gender on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.