transvestite

English

Etymology

From Latin trans + vestite, form of vestiō (“I clothe, I dress”) (as in English vestment, vest). Literally, a "cross-dresser". From transvestitism, from German Transvestitismus, coined in 1910 by Magnus Hirschfeld (the practice itself is much older).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tɹænzˈvɛstaɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Noun

transvestite (plural transvestites)

A person who sometimes wears clothes traditionally worn by and associated with the opposite sex; typically a male who cross-dresses occasionally by habit or personal choice.
Even though Steven used to dress up in his sister's clothes, it still came as a surprise he ended up as a transvestite.
(clinical psychology, psychiatry, pathology) A person, typically a heterosexual male, who compulsively seeks and derives paraphilic sexual arousal from cross-dressing, especially if the urges and behavior cause the patient distress or social impairment.

Usage notes

This term is relatively formal (Latinate); cross-dresser is more casual, but whereas the verb cross-dress is common, the verb transvest is quite rare.
Transvestite should not be confused with transgender (see that term for more); transvestites are often happy with their gender and have no desire to change their sex, but simply enjoy being able to cross-dress from time to time. When speaking of to or about an individual who identifies as transgender, the term transvestite is typically seen as derogatory.
The term should also not be confused with drag queen (“person who performs femininity”) or drag king (“person who performs masculinity”); those terms are specifically for performers.
The clinical definition is far more restrictive than the colloquial usage of the term, drawing a sharp distinction between a transvestite versus those who engage in other types of cross-dressing not associated with sexual arousal—such as a drag queen who cross-dresses to perform a role for entertainment purposes.

Synonyms

cross-dresser
(pejorative) tranny
TV
see also Thesaurus:transvestite

Derived terms

transvestic fetishism
transvestic
transvestism
transvestitism

Related terms

transgender
transsexual

Translations

cross-dresser — See also translations at cross-dresser

Arabic: ^{(please verify)} خول‎ (ar)
Bulgarian: травестит m (travestit)
Catalan: transvestit (ca) m, transvestida (ca) f, travestí (ca) m or f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 契弟 (kai³ dai⁶)
Mandarin: 異裝癖者／异装癖者 (yìzhuāngpǐzhě)
Czech: transvestita m
Danish: transvestit c
Dutch: travestiet (nl) m
Esperanto: transvestulo, transvestulino (female)
Finnish: transvestiitti (fi)
French: travesti (fr) m, travelo (fr) m
Galician: travestí (gl) m or f
German: Transvestit (de) m, Transvestitin (de) f, Transe (de) f, Transi m
Greek: τραβεστί (el) m or f (travestí)
Hungarian: transzvesztita
Indonesian: banci (id)
Irish: trasfheisteoir m
Italian: travestito (it) m
Japanese: 異性装者 (いせいそうしゃ, iseisōsha)
Navajo: háádadiitʼįįhígíí, łaʼinidílnééh
Norwegian:
Bokmål: transvestitt m
Nynorsk: transvestitt m
Polish: transwestyta m, transwestytka f
Portuguese: travesti (pt) m or f
Russian: трансвести́т (ru) m (transvestít)
Serbo-Croatian: трансвестит m, transvestit m
Spanish: travesti (es) m or f, transformista (es) m or f (Venezuela)
Swedish: transvestit (sv) c
Turkish: travesti (tr)

References

Oliven, John F., M.D. (1974) Clinical Sexuality: A Manual for the Physician and the Professions, Third edition, Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott Company, →ISBN
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-III), Third edition, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-III-R), Third Revised edition, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
World Health Organization (1992) The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines, Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, →ISBN
American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV), Fourth edition, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV-TR), Fourth Text Revision edition, Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5), Fifth edition, Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., →ISBN