Both describe the relationship between a person's gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth. Cisgender means the two match; transgender means they do not. The pair exists so that neither has to be described as the default and the other as the exception.
The core difference
- cisgender — gender identity corresponds to the sex assigned at birth.
- transgender — gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.
Why cisgender was coined
Before the word existed, writing about this subject had no neutral term for the majority case, so it appeared as normal or biological — words that carry judgement. Having a matched pair lets a sentence describe both groups in the same register. This is a common move in English: heterosexual was coined for the same reason, and is now unremarkable.
The chemistry prefixes
Cis- and trans- are Latin for on this side of and across. They are used the same way in geography — Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul meant this side and the far side of the Alps — and in chemistry, where cis and trans isomers have identical atoms arranged on the same or opposite sides of a double bond. Trans fats take their name from exactly this.
Grammar and usage
- Both work as adjectives: a transgender person, a cisgender colleague. Not as nouns — a transgender is non-standard, and transgendered is generally avoided because the -ed suffix implies something done to a person.
- Trans and cis are standard informal shortenings.
- Non-binary describes an identity that is not exclusively male or female. Non-binary people are generally included under the transgender umbrella, though not everyone describes themselves that way.
Where the words come from
Transgender appears in the 1960s and spreads through the 1990s as an umbrella term. Cisgender is later, emerging in academic writing in the 1990s and reaching general dictionaries in the 2010s — Merriam-Webster added it in 2016.
Frequently asked questions
What does cisgender mean?
That a person's gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. It is the counterpart term to transgender.
Why is the word cisgender needed?
Without it, the majority case had no neutral name and tended to be called normal or biological. A matched pair lets both be described in the same register.
Where do cis and trans come from?
Latin for on this side of and across. The same prefixes appear in Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, and in cis and trans isomers in chemistry.