cross-dresser

See also: crossdresser

English

Alternative forms

• crossdresser
• xdresser (abbreviation)

Etymology

cross-dress +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɒsˌdɹɛ.sə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɔsˌdɹɛ.sɚ/, (dated) IPA^(key): /ˌkɹɔsˈdɹɛ.sɚ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɑsˌdɹɛ.sɚ/, (dated) IPA^(key): /ˌkɹɑsˈdɹɛ.sɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

cross-dresser (plural cross-dressers)

1. A person who wears clothing which society considers appropriate only for members of the opposite sex.
   • 2006 March 6, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Monday, Mar 6, 2006:

     Tedd: "Between seeing me, knowing my name, and hearing two guys arguing about skirts, he's going to be able to figure out that it was me who answered the door! He's going to know I was transformed!"

     Susan: "I think you give him too much credit. He's a foolish tool of the establishment; there's no way he'll reach that sort of conclusion."

     Tedd: "Ah, yes, and the 'Tedd's a cross-dresser' conclusion is so much more of a desirable alternative!"

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 268:

     For the buildings John uses plastic sheeting employed in the window banners of a particular ladies' clothing chain. [...] I asked John if the sales assistants in those shops thought he was odd, walking in and asking for bits of plastic. 'What you've got to remember,' he said, 'is that they get a lot of cross-dressers going in there, so I'm not that weird in comparison.'

Usage notes

• This term is used in casual registers; the Latinate transvestite is more formal, but is increasingly viewed as derogatory. Neither term should be confused with transgender or transsexual; see the usage notes at transvestite for more.

Synonyms

• x-dresser
• CD, CDer; XD (abbreviated forms)
• transvestite (pejorative or clinical)

Related terms

• cross-dress
• cross-dressing

Descendants

• → Russian: кроссдре́ссер (krossdrésser)

Translations

person who wears clothing considered appropriate only for the opposite sex — see also transvestite

• Bulgarian: травестит m (travestit)
• Classical Nahuatl: xochihua
• Esperanto: transvestanto
• Finnish: ristiinpukeutuja (fi)
• French: travesti (fr) m, travelo (fr) m
• Latin: transvestitus m, transvestitor m, transvestitrix f, transvestitrum n
• Macedonian: травести́т m (travestít)
• Polish: transwestyta m, transwestytka f
• Romanian: travestit (ro) m
• Russian: кроссдре́ссер (ru) m (krossdrésser)
• Spanish: travesti (es) m or f