LGBTQ+ Glossary: 69+ LGBTQ terms explained

heckinunicorn.com/blogs/heckin-unicorn-blog/lgbtq-glossary-69-lgbtq-terms-explained

by Yu Sheng Teo | Updated on June 24, 2021

Let’s be honest: sexuality and gender are complex topics.

Even as the world becomes increasingly accepting of LGBTQ+ folks, many of us still get
confused over terms and concepts that relate to the LGBTQ+ community. Censorship in sex
education and mainstream media (hello from Singapore) makes this problem even worse, as
large swathes of the population get no exposure to such topics.

But fret not, for we’re here to help.

We’ve done the research, and compiled this huge list of LGBTQ-related words and concepts
to help answer the most common questions you might have about sexuality and gender. You
can click on each topic to quickly scroll to the relevant section!

Here we go:

Allosexism

Allosexism is a term that describes a prejudice, hatred, or hostility towards asexual people.
An allosexist is usually physically, verbally or emotionally violent against asexual people, or
excludes them from representation.

This term is not known to many people, mainly because asexuals and asexuality have often
been under-represented in mainstream media, pop culture, and sex education around the
world.

Related terms: Allosexual, Asexual, Asexual-ish, Demisexual, Grey asexuality, Semisexual

Allosexual
An allosexual is a person who isn't asexual.

This term, similar to most terms relating to asexuality, is not known to many people, mainly
because asexuals and asexuality have often been under-represented in mainstream media,
pop culture, and sex education around the world.

Related terms: Allosexism, Asexual, Asexual-ish, Demisexual, Grey asexuality, Semisexual

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Ally
An ally is a person who isn’t part of the LGBTQ+ community (meaning they are
cisgender and heterosexual, or cishet), but who still supports them. Though not necessarily
an activist, an ally tends to stand up against cissexism (transphobia), heterosexism
(homophobia), and monosexism (biphobia).

Related terms: Cisgender, Cishet, Cissexism, Heterosexism, Heterosexual, Homophobia,

Monosexism, Monosexual, Straight, Transphobia

Androgynous
An androgynous person has a gender expression and/or identity that isn’t distinctly “male”
or “female”.

Related terms: Gender expression, Gender identity, Genderfluid, Sexual orientation vs.
Gender identity vs. Gender expression

Asexual

An asexual person generally doesn’t feel sexual attraction or desire. Asexuality is a

spectrum: some asexual people desire romantic relationships with occasional sex, some
want romantic relationships without sex, and some don’t desire romantic
relationships. Asexuality is different than celibacy, where one deliberately avoids sexual
activity.

The term “asexual”is often abbreviated as “ace”.

The opposite of an asexual person is an allosexual person.

Related terms: Allosexism, Allosexual, Asexual-ish, Demisexual, Grey asexuality, Sexual-

ish

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Asexual-ish
Asexual-ish is a term associated with asexuals and asexuality. Because asexuality exists
as a spectrum, different people experience different levels of sexual desire (or lack thereof).

A “grey” spectrum of sexuality exists, and lies between asexuality and sexuality. A person
on this spectrum may experience sexual attraction on occasion or only towards specific
people (e.g. people they’re in a romantic relationship with). People in this spectrum are
known as “grey- A”, “grey ace”, “grace”, “semisexual”, “asexual-ish” or “sexual-ish”.

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Related terms: Allosexism, Allosexual, Asexual, Demisexual, Grey asexuality, Sexual-ish

Bigender

A bigender person has two gender identities. They may switch between gender identities, or
experience both gender identities simultaneously.

Related terms: Gender identity, Sexual orientation vs Gender identity vs. Gender
expression

Biphobia
Biphobia is a prejudice, hatred, or hostility that people might have towards bisexual people.
A biphobic person is usually physically, verbally or emotionally violent
against bisexual people.

Some prefer the term “monosexism” to “biphobia”, because the latter can seem to justify
acts of hostility by using the excuse of “the fear of the unknown”.

Related terms: Bisexual, Monosexism

Bisexual
A bisexual person is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted to people of the
same gender, and people of different genders as themselves. Bisexuality is also commonly
understood to mean having attraction to 2 or more genders. One doesn't need to have any
sexual experience to identify as bisexual. Bisexuality is also separate from sexual
promiscuity (having multiple sexual relationships), or polyamory (having multiple romantic or
intimate relationships).

Bisexuality is often misunderstood to mean attraction to only men and women. This
misunderstanding is probably rooted in the fact that the prefix “bi” means 2, and the fact that
many used to think that there are only 2 genders (man and woman). Bisexuality, however,
doesn’t exclude non-binary genders in its definition.

Bisexuality is closely related to pansexuality.

This term is often abbreviated as “bi”.

Related terms: Biphobia, Gender identity, Gender nonconforming, Genderfluid,

Monosexism, Monosexual, Pansexual

Butch

A butch is a person, usually a woman or trans person, whose gender expression is

masculine.

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Related terms: Gender expression, Sexual orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender
expression, Trans man, Trans woman, Transgender

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Cisgender

A person is cisgender when their gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at
birth.

Related terms: Cishet, Gender identity, Gender identity vs. Sex

Cishet
Cishet is short for “cisgender heterosexual”, and refers to people who are
both cisgender and heterosexual.

A person is cisgender when their gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at
birth.

A person is heterosexual, or straight, when they are romantically, emotionally, and/or

sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex.

Related terms: Cisgender, Heterosexual, Sex, Straight

Cissexism
Cissexism is a term that describes a prejudice, hatred, or hostility
towards transgender people. A cissexist is usually physically, verbally, or emotionally
violent against trans or gender diverse people.

This term is also known as “transphobia”.

Related terms: Cisgender, Gender identity, Transgender, Transphobia

Closeted

A closeted person isn’t open about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Related terms: Coming out, Gender identity, Sexual orientation

Coming out
To come out is to voluntarily make your sexual orientation and/or gender identity known
to public or to other people.

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This is different than outing, which is the exposing and sharing of such information to other
people without the consent of the person themselves.

Related terms: Gender identity, Sexual orientation

Crossdresser

A crossdresser is a person who dresses (fully or partially) as a member of a gender that is

not aligned with their assigned sex. Crossdressing is an act of gender expression, and
thus not an indicator of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Related terms: Gender expression, Gender identity, Gender identity vs. Sex, Sex, Sexual
orientation, Sexual orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender expression

Article continues below

Demisexual
A demisexual person is sexually attracted only to people whom they share an emotional
bond with. Demisexuality falls within the asexual spectrum.

Related terms: Asexual, Asexual-ish, Grey asexuality, Sexual-ish

Discrimination
Discrimination refers to the unjust or prejudicial treatment against members of a
marginalised or minority group, often by members of a dominant group. Members of the
LGBTQ+ community often face discrimination in many parts of the world.

Related terms: Ally

Drag

To do drag is to dress up or present yourself differently than your everyday gender, usually
for expression or performance. Dragging is not an indicator of a person’s gender identity.
A drag queen or drag king is also distinct from a trans person.

Although most people who do drag are gay or lesbian, drag performers can have any sexual
orientation or gender identity.

The art of dragging has become increasingly popular following the meteoric popularity
of Rupaul's Drag Race, a reality TV show where drag queens compete to be the next drag
superstar.

Related terms: Drag queen, Drag king, Gender identity, Gender expression, Transgender

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Drag king
A drag king is a person (usually a woman) who dresses up as a man, generally to perform a
show. Outside of their performance, drag kings typically live their daily lives as women.
Although most people who do drag are gay or lesbian, drag performers can have any sexual
orientation or gender identity.

A drag queen or drag king is also distinct from a trans person.

Related terms: Drag, Drag queen, Gender identity, Gender expression, Transgender

Drag queen
A drag queen is a person (usually a man) who dresses up as a woman, generally to perform
a show. Outside of their performance, drag queens typically live their daily lives as men.
Although most people who do drag are gay or lesbian, drag performers can have any sexual
orientation or gender identity.

A drag queen or drag king is also distinct from a trans person.

Related terms: Drag, Drag king, Gender identity, Gender expression, Transgender

Feminine

A feminine person expresses their gender in a way typically associated with women.

Related term: Gender expression

Gay
A gay person is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted to people of the same
sex. This term is often associated with men, although it applies to women too.

Related terms: Lesbian, Sexual orientation

Article continues below

Gender expression
A person’s gender expression refers to the way they communicate or express their gender
identity to other people. Common expressions include (but aren’t limited to) “masculine”,
“feminine”, or “androgynous”.

Related terms: Feminine, Gender identity, Sexual orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender
expression

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Gender identity
A person’s gender identity refers to their internal identification as a man, woman, neither,
both, or some other gender. This doesn’t always correspond with the biological sex they’re
assigned at birth.

Related terms: Gender identity vs. Sex, Sex, Sexual orientation vs. Gender identity vs.
Gender expression

Gender neutral
Gender neutral refers to the absence of a specific gender. It can be used to describe
facilities (e.g. gender neutral bathrooms that individuals can use regardless of their gender),
people (those who don’t subscribe to a specific gender), or pronouns (non-gender-specific
pronouns like “they / them / theirs”).

Related terms: Gender neutral pronouns, Ne / Nem / Nir pronouns, They / Them / Their
pronouns

Gender neutral pronouns

A gender neutral pronoun doesn’t associate the person being referred to with any gender.
Some languages (like English) don’t have gender neutral pronouns, while sone (like
Chinese) are gender neutral in spoken form, and some (like Malay) are gender neutral
in written and spoken form.

Pronouns like “he / him / his” is gender-specific, because it refers to the male gender.

Different people and organisations have proposed various gender neutral pronouns (like “ne
/ nem / nir”) over the years, though none has gained popular adoption. This is likely due to a
mix of factors, like the relative obscurity of the new terms, as well as the relative difficulty in
pronouncing and using them.

On the other hand, the use of the singular “they / them / theirs” as gender neutral pronouns
is gaining adoption.

Gender neutral pronouns are also known as “gender inclusive pronouns”.

Related terms: Gender neutral, He / Him / His, She / Her / Hers, Ne / Nem / Nir, They / They
/ Their

Gender nonconforming
A gender nonconforming person doesn’t subscribe to gender expressions or roles that
society at large expects them to.

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This term is sometimes abbreviated as GNC.

Related term: Gender expression, Gender neutral pronouns, Sexual orientation vs. Gender
identity vs. Gender expression

Gender identity vs. Sex

A person’s biological sex is usually determined by their anatomical, chromosomal or other

biological characteristics. Known sexes include male, female and intersex.

Gender identity refers to a person’s internal identification as a man, woman, neither, both,
or some other gender.

A person’s gender identity can be influenced by social constructs, norms, or pressures,

whereas their sex is usually biologically determined or assigned.

Related terms: Gender identity, Gender expression, Genderfluid, Intersex, Sex, Sexual
orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender expression

Genderfluid
A genderfluid person has gender identity and/or gender expression that shifts (is fluid)
between or above different genders. Some feel masculine on days and feminine on others,
or live free from gender definitions entirely.

Related terms: Feminine, Gender expression, Gender identity, Masculine, Sexual

orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender expression

Grey asexuality
Grey asexuality refers to a “grey” spectrum of sexuality that lies between asexuality and
sexuality. A person on this spectrum may experience sexual attraction on occasion or only
towards specific people (e.g. people they’re in a romantic relationship with). People in this
spectrum are known as “grey- A”, “grey ace”, “grace”, “semisexual”, “asexual-ish” or “sexual-
ish”.

Related terms: Allosexism, Asexual, Asexual-ish, Demisexual, Sexual-ish

He / him / his pronouns

He / him / his are gender-specific pronouns that are usually used to refer to men or boys.

This is different than gender neutral pronouns, which do not associate the person being
referred to with any specific gender.

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Related terms: Gender neutral pronouns, Ne / Nim / Nir, Preferred pronoun, Pronoun, She
/ Her / Hers, They / Them / Theirs

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Heteronormativity

Heteronormativity is the belief that heterosexuality is the default sexual orientation and,
implicitly, that everyone is cisgender. This belief can be subtle to the heterosexual,
cisgender population. For example, institutions (marriage, laws, schools), pop culture (love
songs, movies, characters) and social behaviours (“What kind of girls/guys do you like?”)
often align with heteronormativity.

Heteronormativity can often lead people within the LGBTQ+ community to feel under-
represented or erased from representation.

Related terms: Cisgender, Heterosexual, Sexual orientation, Straight

Heterosexism
Heterosexism refers to a prejudice, hatred, or hostility towards LGBTQ+ people. A
heterosexist is usually physically, verbally or emotionally violent against LGBTQ+ people.

This term is also (more commonly) known as “homophobia”, although some prefer the
term “heterosexism” because “homophobia” can seem to justify acts of hostility by using the
excuse of “the fear of the unknown”.

Related terms: Heterosexual, Homophobia, LGBT, LGBTQ+

Heterosexual
A heterosexual person is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted to people of the
opposite sex.

This term is also known as “straight”.

Related terms: Romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction, Sex, Straight

Homophobia
Homophobia refers to a prejudice, hatred, or hostility towards LGBTQ+ people. Some prefer
the term “heterosexism” to “homophobia”, because the latter can seem to justify acts of
hostility by using the excuse of “the fear of the unknown”.

Related terms: Heterosexism, LGBT, LGBTQ+

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Intersex
An intersex person has anatomical, chromosomal, or other biological characteristics that
don’t fall into what society typically labels as male or female. An intersex person doesn’t
always have both male and female sex organs. In fact, there are at least 16 different ways a
person can be intersex.

Determining a person's biological sex can be lot more complex than you might expect. As
such, there are a lot more intersex individuals than you might expect (some estimates put it
at 1 in 770 births).

Related terms: Sex

Lesbian
A lesbian is a woman who is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted to other
women. This term is also known as “gay” or “gay women”.

This term is often abbreviated as “les”.

Related terms: Gay, Romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction

LGBT
LGBT is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. This term is generally
used to refer to people who are not cishet (cisgender, heterosexual), and as such
sometimes also include people who are asexual, questioning, or intersex.

Related terms: Asexual, Bisexual, Cishet, Cisgender, Gay, Heterosexual, Intersex, Lesbian,
LGBTQ+, Questioning, Transgender

LGBTQ+
LGBTQ+ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and queer (or questioning). The "+" at the end symbolises inclusivity of other sexual
orientations or gender identities that are not cishet (cisgender, heterosexual).

This term is generally used to refer to people who are not cishet, and as such sometimes
also include people who are asexual, intersex, or any other sexual orientation or gender
identity that's not cishet.

Related terms: Asexual, Bisexual, Cishet, Cisgender, Gay, Heterosexual, Intersex, Lesbian,
LGBT, Questioning, Sexual Orientation, Transgender

Article continues below

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Masculine
A masculine person expresses their gender in a way typically associated with men.

Related term: Gender expression

Microaggression
Microaggression refers to the everyday verbal, behavioural or environmental slights, snubs,
or insults that send hostile or derogatory messages to target people because they belong to
a marginalised group.

A person can be microaggressive even without intending to. Microaggressions could be

targeted based on a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression,
sex, age, race, or other cultural and socioeconomic factors.

Related terms: Discrimination, Gender expression, Gender identity, Sex, Sexual orientation

Misgendering

To misgender someone is to wrongly attribute a gender to them which they don’t align with.
This can be done intentionally or by accident. For example, misgendering can happen when
someone uses gendered pronouns or gendered language (e.g. “Hey guys / ladies”).

Related terms: Gender identity, Gender neutral pronouns, Pronouns

Monosexism
Monosexism refers to a prejudice, hatred, or hostility towards bisexual people. A monosexist
is usually physically, verbally or emotionally violent against them.

This term is also (more commonly) known as “biphobia”, although some prefer the
term “monosexism” because “biphobia” can seem to justify acts of hostility by using the
excuse of “the fear of the unknown”.

Related terms: Biphobia, Bisexual

Monosexual
A monosexual person is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted towards one
gender only. Heterosexuality and homosexuality are the most well-known forms of
monosexuality.

Related terms: Gay, Heterosexual

Mx.

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Mx. is a gender neutral honorific title (pronounced “mix” or “miks”), similar to Mr. for men
and Ms. for women. It is used to refer to someone without making any assumptions about
their preferred pronoun.

Related terms: Gender neutral, Gender neutral pronoun, Preferred pronoun, Pronoun

Ne / Nem / Nir
Ne / Nem / Nir is a set of gender neutral pronouns that some people and/or
organisations have adopted. For example, you would say “Ne is hungry” instead of “He/She
is hungry”, “Please tell nem that lunch is ready” instead of “Please tell him/her that lunch is
ready”, and “This sandwich is nirs” instead of “This sandwich is his/hers”.

However, it is relatively rare to come across this set of pronouns, because of a lack of
awareness, fragmentation of proposed pronouns, and the difficulty in understanding how to
pronounce some of the pronouns. On the flip side, the use of the singular “they / them /
theirs” as gender neutral pronouns is gaining adoption.

Related terms: Gender neutral, Gender neutral pronouns, Preferred pronoun, Pronoun,
They / Them / Theirs, Ve / Vem / Vir, Xe / Xem / Xir, Zie / Hir

Nonbinary
Nonbinary (or non-binary) folks don't identify with either the male or female gender, and
are hence said to be “beyond the gender binary” (the “gender binary” refers to the false idea
that there are only 2 genders). Some nonbinary folks identify with a mix of male and
female genders, with a gender that falls beyond male or female, or with no gender at all.

It's a common misconception to think that nonbinary folks fall “between” the male and
female genders. However, it's more accurate to describe them as falling “beyond” the
confines of just either a male or female gender.

Nonbinary folks are generally classified to be under the transgender umbrella. The
shorthand for nonbinary folks is enby.

Pansexual
A pansexual person is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted towards people of
all genders and sexes. While this means that a pansexual person can be attracted to people
of any gender identity, gender expression, or sex, it certainly doesn't mean that they are
attracted to everyone. Instead, it simply means that the person's gender or sex matters less
to a pansexual person than other attributes like character, interests, or even physical
appearance.

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Pansexuality and bisexuality are similar but different. Bisexuality involves the attraction to
multiple genders, while pansexuality involves the attraction to all. To put it another way, since
pansexual people can be attracted to people of all genders, they sometimes describe it as if
the gender of the other party doesn’t matter as much as other traits. This is different to
bisexual individuals, who may not experience attraction to all genders.

Related terms: Bisexual, Gender expression, Gender identity, Sex

Article continues below

Preferred pronoun
Preferred pronoun refers to the pronoun that a person prefers to be associated with. For
example, a trans woman might prefer the pronouns “she / her / hers”, and a cisgender man
might prefer “he / him / his”. There are also people who prefer gender neutral pronouns like
“they / them / theirs”.

Related terms: Cisgender, Gender neutral pronouns, Pronoun

Privilege
Privilege refers to a set of perceived rights or advantages that are available only to a specific
group of people (usually the majority, or the group holding the most socioeconomic power).
This term can apply to race (e.g. Chinese people in Singapore), sexual orientation (e.g.
heterosexual people in most parts of the world), or other socioeconomic factors.

People who are privileged might not notice it, and thus deny that privilege exists. This might
be because they lack easy visibility over the disadvantaged in their daily lives.

Related terms: Heterosexual, Sexual orientation

Pronoun
Pronouns are nouns that are used to refer to other people, like “he / him / his”, “she / her /
hers”, “they / them / theirs” etc. Some languages (like English) have gender-specific
pronouns (he/she) that can cause misgendering. Other languages have completely gender
neutral pronouns (e.g. Malay), or gender neutral pronouns in spoken form (e.g. Chinese).

Related terms: Gender neutral pronouns, He / Him / His, Misgendering, She / Her / Hers,
Preferred pronoun, They / Them / Theirs

Romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction

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Romantic attraction refers to the desire to engage in romantic behaviours with another
person, like dating, having a relationship, getting married, etc.

Emotional attraction refers to the desire to engage in emotionally intimate behaviours with
another person, like sharing, confiding, trusting, etc. Good friends can have strong emotional
attraction towards each other.

Sexual attraction refers to the desire to engage in physically intimate behaviours with
another person, like kissing, touching, having intercourse, etc.

These are just 3 common types of attraction that one might feel towards another. Other
forms of attraction, like spiritual attraction, exist too.

Queer
The word “queer” is an umbrella term for sexually and gender diverse people, often adopted
by those who are non-heterosexual or non-cisgender.

This term carried negative connotations in the past, because people used them as slurs and
insults. However, people within the LGBTQ+ community have started embracing the term
and using it to describe themselves.

Related terms: Cisgender, Heterosexual, LGBT, LGBTQ+

Questioning
Questioning refers to the process of exploring one’s sexual orientation, gender identity,
and/ or gender expression.

Related terms: Gender expression, Gender identity, Sexual orientation

Semisexual
Semisexuality refers to a “grey” spectrum of sexuality that lies between asexuality and
sexuality. A person on this spectrum may experience sexual attraction on occasion or only
towards specific people (e.g. people they’re in a romantic relationship with). People in this
spectrum are known as “grey- A”, “grey ace”, “grace”, “semisexual”, “asexual-ish” or “sexual-
ish”.

Related terms: Allosexism, Asexual, Asexual-ish, Demisexual, Grey asexuality, Sexual-ish

Sex

Sex refers to a medical categorisation of a person, often based on their anatomical,

chromosomal or other biological characteristics. Known sexes include male, female and
intersex.

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Biological sex exists as a spectrum instead of discrete categories of male/female, simply due
to biological variations between humans. These variations in bodily anatomy, chromosomes
(XX, XY, XXY, etc.), or hormones mean that some of us don’t fall into what society typically
labels as male or female.

Related terms: Gender identity vs. Sex, Intersex

Sex reassignment surgery

Sex reassignment surgery refers to the surgical alteration of a person’s sex, which can form
a part of a trans person’s transition process. Not all trans people choose to or are able to
have sex reassignment surgery (due to its sometimes prohibitively high costs).

Related terms: Sex, Transgender, Transition

Article continues below

Sexism
Sexism refers to a prejudice, hatred, or hostility towards people based on their sex. Because
the male sex is the socioeconomically advantaged sex, sexism often unfairly disadvantages
women.

Related terms: Sex

Sexual orientation
A person’s sexual orientation refers to their enduring romantic, emotional, and/or sexual
attraction or non-attraction to other people. Sexual orientation exists as a spectrum, which
includes (but is not limited to) lesbian/gay, bisexual, heterosexual, asexual, and
pansexual.

Related terms: Asexual, Bisexual, Gay, Heterosexual, Lesbian, Pansexual,

Sexual orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender expression

Sexual orientation vs. Gender identity vs. Gender expression

A person’s sexual orientation refers to how they’re romantically, emotionally, and/or

sexually attracted or not attracted to others.

Their gender identity refers to how they identify internally as a man, woman, neither, both,
or some other gender. This is separate from their sexual orientation.

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Their gender expression refers to how they express their gender externally. This may be
different than their internal gender identity. For example, a man could cross dress as a
woman for performance, but still identify with the male gender.

Related terms: Gender expression, Gender identity, Sexual orientation

Sexual-ish

Sexual-ish refers to a “grey” spectrum of sexuality that lies between asexuality and
sexuality. A person on this spectrum may experience sexual attraction on occasion or only
towards specific people (e.g. people they’re in a romantic relationship with). People in this
spectrum are known as “grey- A”, “grey ace”, “grace”, “semisexual”, “asexual-ish” or “sexual-
ish”.

Related terms: Allosexism, Asexual, Asexual-ish, Demisexual, Grey asexuality

She / Her / Hers

“She / Her / Hers” is a set of gender-specific pronouns used to refer to women or girls.

Related terms: Gender neutral pronouns, He / Him / His

Straight
Straight is a colloquial term used to describe heterosexual people.

Related terms: Heterosexual

They / Them / Theirs

This set of pronouns is traditionally used to refer to groups of people (plural). However, these
pronouns are increasingly used as gender neutral pronouns to refer to a single person
(singular).

The use of the singular “they” pronoun is perhaps the most commonly adopted gender
neutral pronoun, in part due to its ease of use and understanding compared to other
proposed pronouns.

Related terms: Gender neutral, Gender neutral pronouns, Ne / Nem / Nir, Preferred
pronoun, Pronoun, Xe / Xem / Xir, Zie / Hir

Trans man
A trans man is short for a transgender man, and refers to a person whose gender identity
and/or gender expression is that of a man, but was assigned the female sex at birth.

Related terms: Gender expression, Gender identity, Sex, Transgender

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Trans woman
A trans woman is short for a transgender woman, and refers to a person whose gender
identity and/or gender expression is that of a woman, but was assigned the male sex at
birth.

Related terms: Gender expression, Gender identity, Sex, Transgender

Transgender
A transgender person's gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they
were assigned at birth. This includes people who identify with multiple genders, no gender, or
genders outside the man/woman binary. Not all transgender people choose to undergo
medical transition.

This term is often abbreviated as “trans”.

Related terms: Gender identity, Gender expression, Sex, Transition

Transition

The term “transition” is an umbrella term that refers to processes where a trans individual
moves from one gender presentation to another.

There are 3 broad aspects to this:

1. Social: name, pronouns, interactions. For example, a trans person might start adopting
a name that they prefer, instead of the one given to them at birth.
2. Medical: hormones, surgery. This includes sex reassignment surgery, or hormonal
treatment. Medical transition may not always be easy to get, or may be prohibitively
expensive.
3. Legal: legal name changes, gender marker changes (e.g. from Mr. to Ms.), etc. Legal
transition may not always be available, and depends heavily on the local laws.

A trans individual may transition in any combination, or none at all.

Related terms: Transgender

Transphobia
Transphobia refers to a prejudice, hatred, or hostility towards transgender people. Some
prefer the term “cissexism” to “transphobia”, because the latter can seem to justify acts of
hostility by using the excuse of “the fear of the unknown”.

Related terms: Cissexism, Transgender

Article continues below

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Ve / Vem / Vir

Ve / Vem / Vir is a set of gender neutral pronouns that some people and/or
organisations have adopted. For example, you would say “Ve is hungry” instead of “He/She
is hungry”, “Please tell vem that lunch is ready” instead of “Please tell him/her that lunch is
ready”, and “This sandwich is virs” instead of “This sandwich is his/hers”.

However, it is relatively rare to come across this set of pronouns, because of a lack of
awareness, fragmentation of proposed pronouns, and the difficulty in understanding how to
pronounce some of the pronouns. On the flip side, the use of the singular “they / them /
theirs” as gender neutral pronouns is gaining adoption.

Related terms: Gender neutral, Gender neutral pronouns, Ne / Nem / Nir, Preferred
pronoun, Pronoun, They / Them / Theirs, Xe / Xem / Xir, Zie / Hir

Xe / Xem / Xir
Xe / Xem / Xir is a set of gender neutral pronouns that some people and/or
organisations have adopted. For example, you would say “Xe is hungry” instead of “He/She
is hungry”, “Please tell xem that lunch is ready” instead of “Please tell him/her that lunch is
ready”, and “This sandwich is xirs” instead of “This sandwich is his/hers”.

However, it is relatively rare to come across this set of pronouns, because of a lack of
awareness, fragmentation of proposed pronouns, and the difficulty in understanding how to
pronounce some of the pronouns. On the flip side, the use of the singular “they / them /
theirs” as gender neutral pronouns is gaining adoption.

Related terms: Gender neutral, Gender neutral pronouns, Ne / Nem / Nir, Preferred
pronoun, Pronoun, They / Them / Theirs, Ve / Vem / Vir, Zie / Hir

Zie / Hir
Zie / Hir is a set of gender neutral pronouns that some people and/or organisations have
adopted. For example, you would say “Zie is hungry” instead of “He/She is hungry”, “Please
tell hir that lunch is ready” instead of “Please tell him/her that lunch is ready”, and “This
sandwich is hirs” instead of “This sandwich is his/hers”.

However, it is relatively rare to come across this set of pronouns, because of a lack of
awareness, fragmentation of proposed pronouns, and the difficulty in understanding how to
pronounce some of the pronouns. On the flip side, the use of the singular “they / them /
theirs” as gender neutral pronouns is gaining adoption.

Related terms: Gender neutral, Gender neutral pronouns, Ne / Nem / Nir, Preferred
pronoun, Pronoun, They / Them / Theirs, Ve / Vem / Vir, Xe / Xem / Xir

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Sources
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Intersex Society of North America. (2008). What is intersex? Retrieved February 14, 2019,
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Intersex Society of North America. (2008). How common is intersex? Retrieved February 14,
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Killermann, S. (2013, January 7). Comprehensive* List of LGBTQ+ Vocabulary Definitions

[Web log post]. Retrieved February 14, 2019, from
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definitions

Sex and gender distinction. (2019, February 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
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The Need for a Gender-Neutral Pronoun [Web log post]. (2010, January 24). Retrieved
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True Colors Fund. (2015, December 16). Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender
Expression [Video file]. Retrieved February 14, 2019, from https://youtu.be/Vlx9iZ9g_9I

University of California, Davis campus. (2019, February 12). LGBTQIA Resource Center
Glossary. Retrieved February 14, 2019, from https://lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu/educated/glossary

We Are Family. (n.d.). Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Glossary of Terms. Retrieved February 14,
2019, from https://www.wearefamilycharleston.org/lgbt-a-z-glossary

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