transˈsexual, a. and n.
Also (A. 1, B.) transexual, (esp. A. 2) trans-sexual.
[f. trans- 3 + sexual a.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to transsexualism; having physical characteristics of one sex and psychological characteristics of the other.
| 1957 Amer. Jrnl. Psychotherapy XI. 85 Other kinds of secondary experiences might give rise to transsexual tendencies. 1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex 68 In men..the trans-sexual urge occasionally reaches the point of completely assuming the female role. 1969 Nature 2 Aug. 448/2 Cases of transsexual children brought up in unusually close contact with their mothers, who were the dominant members of families in which the fathers were ineffectual characters. 1970 [see sex change s.v. sex n. 5]. 1977 Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 792/1 He may sustain sexual relations..by transexual fantasy. |
2. Of or pertaining to both sexes. Also, intersexual.
| 1977 G. Melly Rum, Bum & Concertina viii. 105, I came into her... We made love.., but crossing the trans⁓sexual barrier didn't convert me overnight. I continued for some years to prefer boys. 1978 Logophile VIII. 8/1 The word ‘clerk’ sounds acceptably undiscriminatory and trans-sexual. |
B. n. A transsexual person. Also, one whose sex has been changed by surgery.
| 1957 Amer. Jrnl. Psychotherapy XI. 84 Marriage, motherhood, and a husband are a woman's life and he wants that as a fulfillment of his femininity. These persons form the group aptly termed ‘transsexuals’. 1966 New Scientist 8 Dec. 577/1 Transsexuals..are a..group of individuals ‘who have a burning and overwhelming desire to be of the sex opposite to what they are anatomically’. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 10 Dec. 21/3 Adult transexuals are so resistant that psychological treatment and even aversion therapy is virtually hopeless so far as they are concerned. 1976 Washington Post 26 Jan. a2/8 Britain's state-run health service has started a night school for transsexuals where men who have changed their sex can learn to face the world as women. 1977 Times 18 Aug. 6/2 Dr Renée Richards, aged 42, a trans⁓sexual who was a man until 1975. |