Meanings
comparative more transsexual · superlative most transsexual · alternative rare transexual
- datedOf a person, having changed, or being in the process of changing, physical sex by undergoing medical treatment, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and/or optionally sex reassignment surgery (SRS).
- datedOf or relating to such a change.
Stormy […] […] returned from Morocco, where she'd had transsexual surgery.
2011 January 19, Aleshia Brevard, Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey, Temple University Press, →ISBN, page 1162 more examples
"'I'm in the process of going through surgery, a transsexual operation.'" She [Sharon Davis] continued, "He [my partner] said that made no difference to him. And when he said that, just like that, I just stopped crying. I was so happy." They've been together ever since.
1983 October 10, “Jet”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 31Before the Iranian Revolution, transsexual treatments were tacitly allowed, but Molkara wanted a ruling that provided clerical legitimacy. After the Revolution, she met with Khomeini and got a fatwa or ruling that transsexual transition was permitted.
2016 November 14, Dana Jennett Bevan Ph.D., Being Transgender: What You Should Know, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN
plural transsexuals · alternative rare transexual
- datedoffensiveA transsexual person.
When a man is a woman trapped in a man's body, and has a little operation, he is a transsexual.
1995, To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar5 more examples
Lesbians for Justice therefore appeals to the organizers of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival to nullify its "womyn-born-womyn only" policy, and to allow the attendance of post-operative male-to-female transsexuals at all future festivals.
1992 May 8, Tamara Severns, “Open Letter To Michigan Festival Organizers”, in Gay Community News, page 4He claimed that they had this wonderful and loving relationship in which the transsexual-to-be had felt that his suitor truly loved him the way he was and didn’t want him to have the surgery, […]
a. 1998, Myra Love, Reality’s Friends, excerpted in Gertrude M. James Gonzalez and Anne J. M. Mamary (editors), Cultural Activisms: Poetic Voices, Political Voices, SUNY Press (1999), page 107Hundreds of women every year are taken completely by surprise when their husbands announce they want to undergo sex-change surgery — and the news is even more shocking when comes, as it often does, from a burly he-man who’d given no clue to his inner girl. ¶ But the signs are definitely there if your husband is dreaming of becoming a transsexual, says a new study by a top sexologist.
2003 December 9, Kitty Fine, “How to Tell If Your Fella Wants to Be a Woman!”, in Weekly World News, ISSN 0199-574X, page 14He was wearing women’s clothes before he had the surgery; then, he actually became a transsexual, and they (amazingly) stayed together.
a. 2006, anonymous, “My Husband’s Secret”, in Grandma Joy, Grandma Joy's Hope for Hurting Women: Healing the Wounds of the Past and Gaining Hope for the Future, Destiny Image Publishers (2006), page 133Being a transsexual is not something that can be ignored or suppressed forever. Unlike the fascinations of the cross dresser or the partially altered transgenderist, the absolute compulsion of classical transsexualism is a matter of life and death.
2012, Patrick Slattery, Curriculum Development in the Postmodern EraSynonyms: TS, trans person
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA transsexual person.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna person who has undergone a sex change operation
nouna person whose sexual identification is entirely with the opposite sex
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*terh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*térh₂t
- Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂ónts
- Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂n̥ts
- Proto-Italic*trāns
- Proto-Italic*trāns-
- Latintrans-
- Englishtrans-
- Proto-Indo-European*sek-
- Proto-Indo-European*séks-u-s
- Proto-Italic*seksus
- Proto-Indo-European*sek-
- Proto-Indo-European*sékh₁yeti
- Proto-Italic*sekaō
- Latinsecō
- Latinsecāre?
- Latinsexus
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Latinsexuālis
- Englishsexual
- Englishtranssexual
From trans- + sexual. Introduced to English along with transsexualism by David Oliver Cauldwell in 1949, based on the German word Transsexualismus coined by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1923. Popularized in the mid 1960s, around the same time that transgender was coined; transgender had become an umbrella term and largely but not entirely displaced transsexual by the 1990s.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُتَحَوِّل جِنْسِيّ, مُتَحَوِّلَة جِنْسِيَّة
- مُتَحَوِّل جِنْسِيّ (mutaḥawwil jinsiyy)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- مُتَحَوِّلَة جِنْسِيَّةperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Catalan transexual, transsexual
- transexualbeing a transsexual
- transsexualperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Chinese Mandarin 變性者 /变性者
- 變性者 /变性者 (biànxìngzhě)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Czech transsexuální, transsexuál
- transsexuálníbeing a transsexual
- transsexuálperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Danish transseksuel
- transseksuelbeing a transsexual
Dutch transseksueel, transseksueel
- transseksueelbeing a transsexual
- transseksueelperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Esperanto transsekseca, transseksulo
- transseksecabeing a transsexual
- transseksuloperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Finnish transsukupuolinen, transsukupuolinen
- transsukupuolinenbeing a transsexual
- transsukupuolinenperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- transuperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
French transsexuel, transsexuelle
- transsexuelbeing a transsexual
- transsexuellebeing a transsexual
- transsexuelperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- transsexuelleperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
German transsexuell, Transsexueller
- transsexuellbeing a transsexual
- Transsexuellerperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- Transsexuelleperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Greek διαφυλικός, τρανσέξουαλ
- διαφυλικός (diafylikós)being a transsexual
- τρανσέξουαλ (transéxoual)being a transsexual
- διαφυλικός (diafylikós)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- τρανσέξουαλ (transéxoual)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Hungarian transzszexuális
- transzszexuálisperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Irish trasghnéasach, trasghnéasach
- trasghnéasachbeing a transsexual
- trasghnéasachperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Italian transessuale, transessuale
- transessualebeing a transsexual
- transessualeperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Japanese 性同一性障害の, 性別移行の
- 性同一性障害の (seidōitsuseishōgai no)being a transsexual
- 性別移行の (seibetsuikō no)being a transsexual
- 性転換の (seitenkan no)being a transsexual
- 性転換者 (seitenkansha)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- 性同一性障害者 (seidōitsuseishōgaisha)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- 性別移行者 (seibetsuikōsha)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Korean 성전환자
- 성전환자 (seongjeonhwanja)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Māori hinehī, hinehī
- hinehībeing a transsexual
- hinehīperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- irawhitiperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Norwegian transperson
- transpersonperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Norwegian Bokmål transseksuell
- transseksuellbeing a transsexual
Persian دوجنسه, دوجنسه
- دوجنسه (do-jense)being a transsexual
- دوجنسه (do-jense)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Polish transseksualny, transseksualista
- transseksualnybeing a transsexual
- transseksualistaperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
- transseksualistkaperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Portuguese transexual, transexual
- transexualbeing a transsexual
- transexualperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Russian транссексуа́льный, транссексуа́л
- транссексуа́льный (transsɛksuálʹnyj)being a transsexual
- транссексуа́л (transsɛksuál)person whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Spanish transexual, transexual
- transexualbeing a transsexual
- transexualperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Swedish transsexuell, transsexuell
- transsexuellbeing a transsexual
- transsexuellperson whose gender identity did not match their birth sex, and who therefore is changing or has changed sex
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with transsexual
Cite this entry
transsexual. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transsexual
“transsexual.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transsexual. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “transsexual,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transsexual.
Source: transsexual on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.