Transsexual

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Pronunciation: /tɹænzˈsɛkʃuəl/

Definitions

1. An individual whose experienced gender differs from the one assigned at birth and may pursue medical interventions for affirmation
2. Someone whose gender identity is not aligned with their birth sex and might undergo surgical or hormonal changes to reflect their true identity
3. A person whose internal sense of gender does not correspond with their biological sex assigned at birth, often seeking medical treatment or social recognition for this difference

Etymology: Magnus Hirschfeld, the German sexologist, coined the German "Transsexualismus" in 1923, and the English "transsexual" was introduced by David Oliver Cauldwell in 1949, who based it on that German word. The term was built from the Latin prefix "trans-", meaning "across" or "beyond," and "sexual," so it literally describes a crossing beyond one's sex. It was not widely known until the 1960s. Harry Benjamin popularized it in 1966, and it became the standard term for people who sought to change their bodies to match their gender identity. Around the same time, "transgender" was coined by John Oliven in 1965, and by the 1990s it had become an umbrella term that largely, though not entirely, displaced "transsexual."

Synonyms: gender dysphoric, transgender

Antonyms: cisgender