transvestite

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).

• IPA^(key): /tɹænzˈvɛstaɪt/

transvestite (plural transvestites)

1. 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.

• 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 or transsexual (see those terms 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 feminity”) or drag king (“person who performs masculinity”); those terms are specifically for performers.

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

• transgender
• transsexual