noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/tɹænzˈvɛs.taɪt/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɛstaɪt
CMU ARPABET:T R AE0 N Z V EH1 S T AY0 T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
Examples
Even though Steven used to dress up in his sister's clothes, it still came as a surprise he ended up as a transvestite.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cross-dresser, TV, tranny, transy
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A person, typically a heterosexual male, who compulsively seeks and derives paraphilic sexual arousal from cross-dressing, especially if the urges and behavior cause the patient distress or social impairment.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Borrowed from Latin trāns + vestītus, form of vestiō (“to clothe, to 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).
Across languages
Translations
46 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
травестит
(travestit)
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Catalan:
transvestit
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Catalan:
transvestida
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Catalan:
travestí
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Chinese Cantonese:
契弟
(kai3 dai6)
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Chinese Mandarin:
異裝癖者 /异装癖者
(yìzhuāngpǐzhě)
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Czech:
transvestita
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Danish:
transvestit
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Dutch:
travestiet
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Esperanto:
transvestulo
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Esperanto:
transvestulino
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Finnish:
transvestiitti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Finnish:
tiitti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
French:
travesti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
French:
travelo
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Galician:
travestí
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
German:
Transvestit
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
German:
Transvestitin
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
German:
Transe
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
German:
Transi
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Greek:
τραβεστί
(travestí)
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Hungarian:
transzvesztita
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Indonesian:
banci
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Irish:
trasfheisteoir
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Italian:
travestito
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Japanese:
異性装者
(iseisōsha)
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Navajo:
háádadiitʼįįhígíí
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Navajo:
łaʼinidílnééh
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Norwegian Bokmål:
transvestitt
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Norwegian Nynorsk:
transvestitt
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Polish:
transwestyta
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Polish:
transwestytka
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Portuguese:
travesti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Russian:
трансвести́т
(transvestít)
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Serbo-Croatian:
трансвестит
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Serbo-Croatian:
transvestit
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
travesti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
transformista
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
transfórmer
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
traca
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
transvesti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
trasvestista
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
travestí
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Spanish:
travestido
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Swedish:
transvestit
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
Turkish:
travesti
— cross-dresser — see also cross-dresser
