transgenderal

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *terh₂-der.

Proto-Italic *trānts

Latin trāns

Latin trans-bor.

English trans-

Latin sexus

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin sexuālisbor.

English sexual

English transsexualblend.

Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os

Latin genus

Old French gendrebor.

Middle English gendre

English genderblend.

English transgenderal

Blend of transsexual +‎ gender. Coined by American transgender activist Virginia Prince in 1969 in order to distinguish between transgender people who have undergone medical treatment to change their sex and those who have not (see first quotation).

Noun

transgenderal (plural transgenderals)

1. (dated, uncommon) A transgender person. [from late 1960s]
   • [1969 December, Virginia Prince, “Change of Sex or Gender”, in Transvestia‎^[1], volume IX, number 60, Chevalier Publications, →LCCN, archived from the original on 2021-12-27, page 65:

     […] I (and others in the same position) who have had electrolysis, taken hormones and live as a woman full time am not a transexual, are wrong. […] I, at least, know the difference between sex and gender and have simply elected to change the latter and not the former. If a word is necessary, I should be termed a “transgenderal.”]

   • 1980, Kenneth E. Read, Other Voices: The Style of a Male Homosexual Tavern‎^[2], Novato, California: Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 187, 201:

     These culturally bound assumptions have bedevilled the entire anthropological literature on the berdache in Native American cultures, and it is because of this that I have followed the lead of Angelino and Shedd when referring to the phenomenon of the berdache-transgenderal, for as Fitzgerald (1977) points out: "A berdache . . . may be a transvestite, but a transvestite need not be a berdache; and neither need be homosexual." […]
     transgenderal A term that is currently being promoted to replace "transsexual" (below).
     transsexual An individual who is psychologically motivated to assume the cultural identity, roles, and status of someone of the opposite gender and who views himself or herself in this way alone. Many transsexuals prefer the term "transgenderal." The gender "change" may be made without the assistance of male and female hormones or cosmetic surgery. Transsexual is not synonymous with "transvestite."

   • 1996, Diane Richardson, Theorising Heterosexuality: Telling it Straight, page 141:

     […] the struggle for women's liberation and for the liberation of men and transgenderals […]

   • 1999, Sterling K. Gerber, Enhancing Counselor Intervention Strategies, page 182:

     […] there has been concern over prejudicial treatment of members of sexual minorities - gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenderals or transexuals.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:transgenderal.

Adjective

transgenderal (not comparable)

1. (dated, uncommon) Of a person, transgender (having gender which is different from one's assigned sex). [from late 1960s]
   • 1972, John Money, Archives of Sexual Behavior‎^[3]:

     Virginia Prince talks about a person who is merely transgenderal. She sees no reason to change her sex organs just because she happens to like a different gender role.

   • 1995, William A. Young, The World's Religions: Worldviews and Contemporary Issues, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     However, most are transgenderal, occurring within the framework of the man-woman role known to observers as berdache. The term berdache apparently comes from the Arabic word bardaj, meaning a boy slave kept for erotic purposes […]

   • 2007, Vanessa Baird, The No-nonsense Guide to Sexual Diversity, New Internationalist, →ISBN, page 19:

     […] that their macho 'real men' clients want to be the receptive partner. In many cultures same-sex sexualities are 'transgenderal' in that they put gender identity in question.  […]

2. (dated, uncommon) Of a person, expressing a different gender role.
   • 2000 August 31, Michael R. Kauth, True Nature: A Theory of Sexual Attraction, Springer Science+Business Media, →ISBN, page 88:

     Greenberg's second common form of sexual and erotic relationship is transgenderal. Here, partners are different genders or play different gender roles, although they are not necessarily different sexes.

   • 2002, Jared C. Calaway, “Benjamin Franklin and Transgenderal Pseudonymity”, in Constructing the Past‎^[4], volume 3, number 1:

     Women found advantages in taking on a man's name since it was easier for a man to publish his work than for a woman. However, women did not monopolize transgenderal pseudonymity because, interestingly, men also adopted female pseudonyms.

References

• Them (2022 April 25) “What Does It Mean to be Transgender?”, in Them
• KJ Rawson (2015 May 27) “What’s in a word? The challenges of ‘transgender’”, in The Conversation

Further reading

• “transgenderal”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “transgenderal”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “transgenderal”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• transgenderal, transgender, transsexual at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.