transvestite

[ trans-ves-tahyt, tranz- ]
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noun
  1. Psychiatry. a person, especially someone assigned male at birth, who assumes the dress and manner usually associated with a different gender.

  2. Older Use: Often Offensive. crossdresser. Abbreviation: TV

adjective
  1. Older Use: Often Offensive. being or relating to a person who wears clothing typically worn by members of a different gender.

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Origin of transvestite

1
First recorded in 1925–30; from German Transvestit; see transvestism, -ite1

Words Nearby transvestite

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for transvestite

transvestite

/ (trænzˈvɛstaɪt) /


noun
  1. a person who seeks sexual pleasure from wearing clothes that are normally associated with the opposite sex

  2. any cross-dresser: See cross-dressing

Origin of transvestite

1
C19: from German Transvestit, from trans- + Latin vestītus clothed, from vestīre to clothe

Derived forms of transvestite

  • transvestism or transvestitism, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for transvestite

transvestite

Someone who dresses in the clothes usually worn by the opposite sex. Transvestites may be bisexual, heterosexual, or homosexual (see bisexuality, heterosexuality, and homosexuality).

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.