Etymograph

English

transgender

Transgender comes from Middle English gendre ‘type, class’, from Latin genus ‘birth, origin, lineage, descent’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵénh₁os‘race, lineage’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*genosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgenus‘birth, origin, lineage, descent’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gendre
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gendre‘type, class’
  7. English1500–presentgender
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1967transgender

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵénh₁os‘race, lineage’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*genosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgenus‘birth, origin, lineage, descent’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gendre
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gendre‘type, class’
  7. English1500–presentgender
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1967transgender

Earliest quotation: 1967, John P. Leary, Woman in American Society Today: “Of course some unhappiness is simply a transgender phenomenon.…”

Formed from trans- ‘extending across, through, or over’ + gender

Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- ‘to cross over, pass through, overcome’

…

Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂ónts

Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂n̥ts

Proto-Italic *trāns ‘across, beyond’

Proto-Italic *trāns-

English trans-

Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce, beget’

…

Proto-Italic *genos

Latin genus ‘birth, origin; kind, type’

Old French gendre ‘type, kind’

Middle English gendre ‘type’

English gender

The story

The adjective sense is derived from trans- (‘extending across, through, or over’) + gender, modelled after transsexual (adjective) and probably modified from transgenderism which was coined by the American psychiatrist John F. Oliven (1915–1975) in 1965; the terms transgender, transgenderal, transgendered, transgenderist, and similar terms arose in the decades after this. By the 1990s, the word transgender had acquired its current senses, and had also largely displaced the earlier term transsexual: see the usage notes.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’

kind, king, nature, nation, native, engine, german, pregnant, genuine, genetic, genius, ken, gentle, indigenous, naive, kin, noel, genesis, innate, natal, nee, nativity, genital, nada, genealogy, ingenious, naïve, nascent, germ, janata, puny, gentile, degenerate, regenerate, cognate, degeneration, jaunty, genial, genteel, gens, 97 more

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os ‘race, lineage’

gene, oxygen, hydrogen, genocide, glycogen, estrogenic, 23 more

through Proto-Italic *genos

regeneration, 9 more

through Latin genus ‘birth, origin, lineage, descent’

general, generation, genuinely, genre, generous, generic, generate, genus, generosity, generative, engender, 11 more

Today it means

adj Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is different from one's assigned sex; that is, the identity of a trans man, trans woman, or someone non-binary, for example, agender, bigender, or third-gender.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- / transgender

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