LGBTQ slang

Template:Short description Template:Protection padlock Template:LGBTQ sidebar LGBTQ slang, LGBTQ speak or queer slang is a set of English slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBTQ people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBTQ community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.<ref name="Baker 2002">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Long">Template:Cite book</ref>

LGBTQ slang has played an integral part in LGBTQ culture for decades. Slang language initially emerged as a way for queer people to communicate with one another while avoiding detection by mainstream society.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Queer people have always existed,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but historically, they have had to be discreet about their identities and lives, particularly when being LGBTQ was illegal and or socially condemned.

LGBTQ slang is used as a way to signal one's identity and build solidarity within the community. When queer people use these certain words and phrases, they demonstrate to others that they are part of the LGBTQ community and share a common experience. This connection can create a sense of belonging for those historically rejected and isolated by mainstream society.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

LGBTQ slang is also used by the community as a means of reclaiming language and deconstructing oppressive norms. Queer slang often includes playful references to sexual acts, which can serve as an assertion of sexual agency and a rejection of shame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History and context

Because of sodomy laws and threat of prosecution due to the criminalization of homosexuality, LGBTQ slang has served as an argot or cant, a secret language and a way for the LGBTQ community to communicate with each other publicly without revealing their sexual orientation to others.<ref name="Long" /><ref name="Cage and Evans">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Hamaida">Template:Cite web</ref> Since the advent of queer studies in universities, LGBTQ slang and argot has become a subject of academic research among linguistic anthropology scholars.<ref name="Frank">Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Butch Femme Society by David Shankbone.jpg

The Butch and Femme society

During the first seven decades of the 20th century, a specific form of Polari was developed by gay men and lesbians in urban centres of the United Kingdom within established LGBTQ communities. Polari was featured on the BBC radio programme Round the Horne in 1964, exposing the wider public to the secret language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although there are differences, contemporary British gay slang has adopted many Polari words.<ref name="Baker 2002" /><ref name="Quinion">Template:Cite web</ref> The 1964 legislative report Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida contains an extensive appendix documenting and defining the homosexual slang in the United States at that time.<ref name="Forida Memory">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Howard">Template:Cite book</ref> SCRUFF launched a gay-slang dictionary app in 2014, which includes commonly used slang in the United States from the gay community.<ref name="Huffington Post 2014">Template:Cite news</ref> Specialized dictionaries that record LGBTQ slang have been found to revolve heavily around sexual matters.<ref name="Jacobs 1996">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Slang is ephemeral; terms used in one generation may pass out of usage in another. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, the terms "cottage" (chiefly British) and "tearoom" (chiefly American) were used to denote public toilets used for sex. By 1999, this terminology had fallen out of use to the point of being greatly unrecognizable by members of the LGBTQ community at large.<ref name="Leap">Template:Cite book</ref>

Many terms that originated as gay slang have become part of the popular lexicon. The word drag was first used by William Dorsey Swann, a freed African American slave. Swann referred to himself as the "queen of drag" in the 1880s and 1890s.<ref>Shane, Cari. “The First Self-Proclaimed Drag Queen Was a Formerly Enslaved Man.” Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed September 23, 2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-first-self-proclaimed-drag-queen-was-a-formerly-enslaved-man-180982311/.</ref> Drag was later popularized by Hubert Selby Jr. in his book Last Exit to Brooklyn. Drag has been traced back by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to the late 19th century. Conversely, words such as "banjee", while well-established in a subset of gay society, have never made the transition to popular use. Conversations between gay men have been found to use more slang and fewer commonly known terms about sexual behavior than conversations between straight men.<ref name="Lumby">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In the Philippines, many LGBTQ people speak with Swardspeak, or "gay lingo", which is a more extensive use of slang as a form of dialect or way of speaking. Other argots are spoken in southern Africa (Gayle language and IsiNgqumo) and Indonesia (Bahasa Binan). More specifically, in a country like Thailand, LGBTQ slang was always present in their history due to their religious, behavioral, and social nature. However, before the term LGBTQ was introduced, the Thai community would use the terms Kathoey and Tom. The term Kathoey was used to describe transgender women who dress, act, or partake in surgery to become female, and the term Tom as well as "handsome girls" in Thai was used to describe women who liked women. Homosexuality and transgenderism has always existed throughout their history, as their behavioral nature did not align with heterosexual ideals.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

General slang terms

• 100-footer – an obviously gay or lesbian person (as if visible from 100 feet away) (US)<ref name="Brabaw">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:AnchorTemplate:Wt or Template:Wt (man-loving-man) – an umbrella term for attractions and relationships between men, regardless of their sexual or romantic orientation, sometimes including non-binary androphiles<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• baths – bathhouses frequented by gay men for sexual encounters (US)<ref name="Max">Template:Cite book</ref>
• beach bitch – a gay man who frequents beaches and resorts for sexual encounters (US)<ref name="Max" />
• beard – a person used as a date, romantic partner, or spouse to conceal one's sexual orientationTemplate:Sfn
• beat – an area frequented by gay men, where sexual acts occur (Australia)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• bent – gay, as opposed to straight (UK)<ref name="Max" />
• bender – someone who has homosexual intercourse (UK)<ref name="Max" />
• binding – a technique in which individuals wear tight clothing, bandages, or compression garments, known as binders, to hide and flatten their breasts
• bottom – a receptive partner in intercourse; also used as a verb for the state of receiving sexual stimulation<ref name="Max" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Template:Wt – someone who dominantly or energetically plays the receptive role in intercourse<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – portmanteau of "boy pussy"; a male anus, in the context of anal sex. Also used to refer to a trans man's vulva<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – in ball culture, a gay male who presents as a gay male; that is, neither as a trans individual nor a heteronormative male. This mostly refers to someone who looks the part of what most would identify as "gay"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• butchy femme – a gender expression between femme and futch<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>
• camp, campy – exaggerated and amusing, in a way that is typically associated with gay men or femininity<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• clone – a San Francisco or New York Greenwich Village denizen with exaggerated macho behavior and appearance (US)<ref name="Max" />
• closeted – keeping one's sexuality or gender identity a secret from others<ref name="Max" />
• cocksucker – a person who practices fellatio, usually a gay male<ref name="Max" />
• come out (of the closet) – to admit or publicly acknowledge oneself as non-heterosexual/non-cisgender<ref name="Max" />
• cottaging – having or seeking anonymous gay sex in a public toilet, or 'cottage' (UK)<ref name="Baker 2010">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
• cruising – seeking a casual gay sex encounter (historically from ancient Rome)<ref name="Max" /><ref name="Dynes">Template:Cite book</ref>
• down-low – homosexual or bisexual activity, kept secret, by men who have sex with men (US)<ref name="Coming Up from the Down Low">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Secret Gay">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Black masculinities">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Outing Hip-Hop">Template:Cite news</ref>
• en femme, en homme – the act of wearing clothes stereotypically of the opposite sex<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• femboy – a feminine or androgynous male<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• femme – a feminine homosexual<ref name="Brabaw" />
• Template:Wt – a shorter alternative to folks<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – a gender expression between femme and butch, or a feminine butch<ref name=":3" />
• Game of Flats – an 18th-century English term for sex between women<ref name="Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England">Template:Cite book The reference is to A. G. Busbequius, Travels into Turkey, English translation (London, 1744). The original book, published much earlier, was invariably cited whenever lesbianism was mentioned, e.g., William Walsh's A Dialogue Concerning Women (London, 1691) and in Martin Schurig's Muliebria Historico-Medica (1729).</ref>
• gaydar – the supposed ability to detect someone's sexual orientation (from gay + radar). Corresponding terms include Template:Wt, Template:Wt, Template:Wt, and Template:Wt. Bidar is also called Template:Wt, a jocular pun on Wi-Fi.Template:Citation needed
• gaymer – an LGBTQ person who plays video games (from gay + gamer)
• gaysian – a gay Asian person<ref name="Gaysian">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – a woman attracted to gay/bisexual men, also may refer to some gay men or non-binary people<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• gold star – a homosexual who has never had heterosexual sexual intercourse<ref name="Brabaw" />
• gouinage (Brazil) – non-penetrative sex.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Named after gouine,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> similar to side<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• g0y – men attracted to men but don't identify as gay and isn't willing to do anal intercourse<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• guydyke or lesboy – a man/boy attracted to lesbian/bisexual women,<ref name=":0" /> also may be used to refer to a non-binary person<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4" />
• heteroflexible – to be mostly heterosexual<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• homoflexible – to be mostly gay
• Molly – In 18th century England, the term "molly" was used for male homosexuals, implying effeminacy. See Molly house
• Template:Wt – being "neither/nor" when it comes to normative taboos and self-centered communities<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• platinum star gay – gay men who were born by a C-section procedure<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• poz – HIV-positive person (US)<ref name="SCRUFF">Template:Cite web</ref>
• queer – originally a slur against homosexuals, transgender people, and anyone who does not fit society's standards of gender and sexuality; later reclaimed and used as umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities<ref name="Dynes" />
• sapphic or Template:Wt (woman-loving-woman) – used to encompass attractions and relationships between women, regardless of their sexual or romantic orientation, sometimes including non-binary gynephiles<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• scissoring – used to refer to lesbian intercourse, though is often derogatory
• Template:Anchorside – a homosexual male who does not enjoy anal penetration (giving or receiving), but will engage in other forms of same-sex activity (fellatio, frottage, handjobs, etc.)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• swish – effeminate or effeminacy (US)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• switch – a person who enjoys both topping and bottoming, or being dominant and submissive, and may alternate between the two in sexual situations, adapting to their partner. Synonymous with vers
• Template:Wt – especially in ball culture to dress or be fashionable and flawless<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• tomgirl – the equivalent of a tomboy, but for boys with feminine traits
• top – the dominant or inserting sexual partner, usually in a homosexual relation or activity<ref name="SCRUFF" />
  • Template:Wt – a submissive top, someone who applies sensation or control to a bottom, but does so at the bottom's explicit instructions
• tongzhi (同志, "comrade", lit. "same will, same purpose") – a term used to describe members of LGBTQ communities in some Chinese languages<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• trade – a straight-passing male partner, commonly used by gay men or trans women (derived from Polari) (US)
• vers – a person who enjoys both topping and bottoming, or being dominant and submissive, and may alternate between the two in sexual situations, adapting to their partner

Terms describing gay men

File:BearsMarchaGayDF.JPG

Bears at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City

• artiste – a gay man who excels at fellatio<ref name="Max" />
• auntie – an older, often effeminate and gossipy gay man<ref name="Max" />
• bathsheba – a gay man who frequents gay bathhouses<ref name="Max" />
• bull queer — a gay man who exclusively tops in intercourse
• chicken – a youthful gay man
• chubby chaser – a man who seeks overweight males<ref name="Max" />
• daddy – a typically older gay man<ref name="SCRUFF" />
• flit<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Flit">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• flower – a typically effeminate gay man<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• friend of Dorothy – a gay person. Historically used as a shibboleth to identify other LGBTQ people.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Likely a reference to Judy Garland,<ref name=":1" /> who portrayed Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and had a large gay fan-base<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• light in the loafers / light in the pants / light in the fedoraTemplate:Sfn
• punk – a smaller, younger gay man who, in prison settings, is forced into a submissive role and used for the older inmate's sexual pleasure<ref name="Dynes" />
• queen – a flamboyant or effeminate gay man.<ref name="Dynes" /> Alternatively, short for drag queen
  • bean queen (also taco queen or Salsa queen), gay man attracted to Hispanic men<ref name="terms">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • brownie queen – obsolete slang for gay man interested in anal sex (used by men who disliked anal sex)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • chicken queen – an older gay man interested in younger or younger appearing men<ref name="TIME">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • grey queen – a gay person who works in financial services; grey flannel suits<ref>Rodgers, Bruce Gay Talk (The Queen's Vernacular): A Dictionary of Gay Slang New York: 1972 Parragon Books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam's Sons Page 99</ref>
  • Template:Visible anchor – a gay Asian man attracted mainly to white men<ref name="Ayres T 1999">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • rice queen – a gay man attracted mainly to East Asian men<ref name="Ayres T 1999" />
• twink − a youthful, flamboyant gay man with a slim physique

Slurs against gay men

• anal assassin (UK) or "anal astronaut"<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for bootie-buster">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• arse bandit<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> or ass bandit<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• backgammon player (late 18th century Britain)<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Backgammon player">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• batty boy – a slur for gay or effeminate man (Jamaica and United Kingdom)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• bent, bentshot or bender<ref name="Dalzell2008">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• bixa/Template:Wt (Brazil)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• brownie king / brown piper<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Brownie king">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• bufter, bufty (mainly Scottish) or booty buffer<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for bootie-buster" />
• bum boy / bum chum,<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Bum boy">Template:Harvnb</ref> also bum robber<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for bum robber">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• butt pirate,<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Butt Pirate">Template:Harvnb</ref> butt boy, butt rider, butt pilot, or butt rustler<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Butt Pirate" />
• chi chi man (Jamaica and the Caribbean)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Forbidden Words: Taboo and the">Template:Cite book</ref>
• cockstruction worker – a gay, bi or queer man who works in construction industry<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• faggot / fag – slur against gay men.<ref name="Reference.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="American Heritage">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> First recorded in a Portland, Oregon publication in 1914<ref name="Dynes" />
• fairy – a slur, common in the 1920s and 1930s, reclaimed by gay men in the 1960s<ref name="Dynes" /><ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for fairy">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• finocchio (from Italy, meaning fennel)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• flamer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• fruit (also fruit loop, fruit packer, butt fruit) – a slur against gay men; originally a stereotype of gay men as "softer" and "smelling good"<ref name="Dynes" /><ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Fruit et al.">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• fudge packer<ref name="Dalzell2008" /><ref name="Dalzell and Victor 2013">Template:Cite book</ref>
• homo – shortening of homosexual, it is sometimes derogatory,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> though also used in a reclaimed sense by some LGBTQ people
• homo thug<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• maricón or Template:Wt (in Spanish)
• nancy boy<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• nelly / nellie – an effeminate gay man<ref name="Dahir 2006">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Webster Nelly">Template:Cite web</ref>
• pansy<ref name="Bad Baby Names">Template:Cite web</ref>
• poof/poofta/Template:Wt (Commonwealth)
• sod (from sodomy)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• uphill gardener<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt or veado – a gay male or an effeminate man (lit., a corrupted form of "deer", derived from desviado, meaning deviant) (Brazil)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Terms describing lesbians

File:A Dyke on a Bike by David Shankbone.jpg

A member of the Dykes on Bikes motorcycle club

• baby butch – a young, boyish lesbian<ref name="Max" />
• baby dyke – a young or recently out lesbian<ref name="Brabaw" />
• bambi lesbian – a lesbian who prefers cuddles, hugs, kisses, and other affectionate and sensual non-sexual acts over sexual acts<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• bean flicker – Likening the clitoris to a bean<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
• bluff – butch fluff<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• boi – a boyish lesbian (UK)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – a lesbian with male presentation<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• bull dyke – a masculine lesbian, as opposed to a baby butch or dinky dyke (UK (somewhat archaic), US)<ref name="Max" />
• butch – a masculine lesbian<ref name="Max" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for butch-broad">Template:Harvnb</ref>
  • long-haired butch (LHB)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> – a butch with long hair<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• carpet muncher (or "rug muncher")<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• dyke ("bull dyke", "bull dagger", alternatively "bulldagger", "bulldicker"<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for bulldicker">Template:Harvnb</ref>), from 1920s black American slang. A slur reclaimed by women who are attracted to women in the 1950s<ref name="Dynes" /><ref name="Krantz">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Prisons and Prisoners">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dynes1990">Template:Harvnb</ref>
  • diesel dyke<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Matthew Rottnek, Sissies and Tomboys: Gender Nonconformity and Homosexual Childhood, NYU Press, May 1, 1999 -</ref>
  • drag dyke<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Drag dyke">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• dykon – portmanteau of dyke + icon. A celebrity woman who is seen as an icon by lesbians; may or may not be a lesbian herself<ref name="Brabaw" />
• fluff – femme<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:AnchorTemplate:Wt (in French)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt / has-bian – a woman who previously identified as lesbian but now identifies as heterosexual or bisexual<ref>"hasbian" Template:Webarchive. (2019). In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved May 14, 2024.</ref><ref>"hasbian" Template:Webarchive. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved May 14, 2024.</ref>
• kiki – a term used primarily from the 1940s until the 1960s to indicate a lesbian who was not butch or femme and did not have a preference for either butch or femme partners<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• kitty puncher / pussy puncher – with both "kitty" and "pussy" referring to a woman's vulva/vagina, and "puncher" as a variation on various derogatory terms for gay men, such as "donut puncher"<ref name="Cassell's Dictionary of Slang for Donut puncher">Template:Harvnb</ref>
• four year lesbian - see lesbian until graduation
• lesbian until graduation (LUG) – a young woman who is assumed to be temporarily experimenting with same-sex behavior, but will ultimately adopt a heterosexual identity<ref>Rimer, Sara (June 5, 1993). "Campus Lesbians Step Into Unfamiliar Light" Template:Webarchive. The New York Times.</ref>
• lipstick lesbian – a lesbian/bisexual woman who displays historically feminine attributes such as wearing make-up, dresses, and high heels<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• muff-diver – a lesbianTemplate:Sfn<ref name="Dalzell 2013">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
• pillow princess – a lesbian who likes to receive sexual stimulation, rather than giving it (to bottom)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Brabaw" />
• Template:Wt (Brazil)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> or Template:Wt (Portugal)
• soft butch – an androgynous lesbian, in between femme and butch<ref name="Brabaw" />
• stem, stemme – someone whose gender expression falls somewhere between a stud and a femme<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• stone butch – a very masculine lesbian, or a butch lesbian who does not receive touch during intercourse, only giving (US)<ref name="Brabaw" />
• stud – a black butch<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Terms describing bisexual or pansexual people

• AC/DC – reference to "swinging both ways" (US)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Wt – euphemism for bisexual, derived from ambidextrous<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
• bicon – portmanteau of bisexual + icon. Used to refer to a bisexual celebrity<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• byke – a bisexual dyke<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Gillette Blade – a 1950s era term for bisexual women, whose sexuality "cuts both ways"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Horatian – in Lord Byron's circle at Cambridge, a code word for "bisexual",<ref name="Crompton1985">Crompton, Louis. Byron and Greek Love: Homophobia in 19th-century England. Faber & Faber, London 1985. Template:ISBN</ref>Template:Rp more specifically bisexual men<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• unicorn – a bisexual, usually a woman,<ref name=":2" /> who desires multiple partners and is willing to join an existing couple and sexually satisfy both members of the couple.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> So-named because bisexuals willing to enter such an arrangement are considered rare or non-existent,<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref> while couples seeking such a partner ("unicorn hunters") are common<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref>

Terms describing androgynous or intersex people

• Template:Nihongo3 – Japanese word for hermaphroditism, which is also used in a broader sense for androgyny.<ref name="Leupp">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="krauss">Template:In lang Krauss, Friedrich Salomo et al. Japanisches Geschlechtsleben: Abhandlungen und Erhebungen über das Geschlechtsleben des japanischen Volkes; folkloristische Studien, Schustek, 1965</ref>Template:Rp The term is also heavily associated with a genre of hentai defined by sexualization of characters simultaneously possessing breasts, a penis and a vulva, and has gained a negative connotation for the sexual connotations<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• hermie – an androgynous or intersex person, though the term is often considered a slur<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Vanchor – a term describing people who alter their sex, such as through hormone replacement therapy or gender-affirming surgery, who were not born intersex. This term is especially used in the case of people who do not describe their sex as male or female due to their medical transition, without appropriating intersex terminology. Considered derogatory if used to deny the validity of someone's medical transition to male or female<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Salmacian – named after Salmacis, standing for someone who acquires, or wishes to acquire, mixed genitalia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Terms describing transgender and non-binary people

• baby trans – a trans person who recently came out of the closet. The term is a noun<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – a transgender woman or girl who socially presents in a masculine gender role, typically in places where transgender individuals are discriminated against, or due to not being out as transgender.<ref name="transgendermap.com">Template:Cite web</ref> The equivalent for a transgender man is 'girlmoder'Template:Citation needed
• Copenhagen capon – a transsexual; someone who has undergone sex reassignment surgery. The term alludes to Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who underwent sex reassignment surgery in Copenhagen in the 1950s.<ref name="Max" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A capon is a neutered rooster
• Template:Anchordiamoric – a term for attractions and relationships involving at least one non-binary individual<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Va – a transgender person who has not yet realized they are trans;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> used by transgender people when aspects of one's personality or behavior remind them of gender-related aspects of themselves before they realized they were trans. As such, the realization that one is trans is referred to as one's "egg cracking". This may also be used to refer to someone who is questioning their gender but later expresses themself to be cisgender. Although, this seems to be of less common use. Most "egg" related statements either refer to someone's past self, before they would describe themself as transgender. Or, someone believed to be trans, but not open, regardless of whether they say they are at the time. However, this is a risky social move, as, that someone could later still describe themself as cis, be in the closet, or have a nonbinary identity that is neither considered necessarily cis nor trans to them. Or the label of "trans" is not to their liking or has too many connotations attached to it they dislike
• Template:AnchorTemplate:Wt or NBLNB (also NLN) – a term for attraction and relationship between non-binary people<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Template:Wt – a non-binary person. Derived from the abbreviation NB.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="transgendermap.com" />
• girlmoder – a transgender man who socially presents in a feminine gender role, typically in places where transgender individuals are discriminated against, or due to not being out as transgender.<ref name="transgendermap.com" /> The equivalent for a transgender woman is 'boymoder'
• lady boy – English translation of kathoey, similar or equivalent to transgender woman, but may refer to feminine gay men or intersex people<ref name="Peter Jackson-1989">Template:Cite book</ref>
• M2B – male to butch, alluding male-to-female (MtF, also called M2F)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• repressor – a person who is fighting the wish to change their gender expression<ref name="transgendermap.com" />
• sapatrans or sapatrava (portmanteau of sapatão + trans) – a term used in Brazil for trans lesbians and lesbian travestis<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Template:Wt – a trans woman (short for "trans girl"). It is often derogatory, due to its association with transgender pornography<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt / Template:Wt – a trans man (short for "trans boy" and "trans guy")
• tranarchist – a transgender anarchist<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Template:Visible anchor (portmanteau of trans + lesbian) – a transgender lesbian.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> See also Template:Section link.
• transfag – a transgender gay man<ref name="stryker1999">Susan Stryker (1999). "Portrait of a Transfag Drag Hag as a Young Man: The Activist Career of Louis G. Sullivan," in Kate More and Stephen Whittle (eds). Reclaiming Gender: Transsexual Grammars at the Fin de Siecle, pp. 62-82. Cassells, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
• Template:Wt – trans dyke<ref>2020, Riki Wilchins; Joan Nestle; Clare Howell, GenderQueer-Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary, page 237</ref><ref>2005, Emanuel Xavier, Bullets & Butterflies: Queer Spoken Word Poetry, page 117</ref>

Slurs against transgender and non-binary people

• shemale or she-male – a trans woman with male genitalia and possibly female secondary sex characteristics.<ref name="zapata">Autumn Sandeen, Blaming The Victim, Angie Zapata, For Her Own Death Template:Webarchive, Shadowproof, 19 Mar 2009</ref> Primarily a term used in pornography and often derogatory<ref name="Halberstam2018">Template:Cite book</ref>
• hon – a non-passing transgender woman. This term is primarily used by trans women in online communities (mostly 4chan). It is derogatory<ref name="transgendermap.com" />
• tranny – slur used for transgender people<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:WtTemplate:Anchor — slur for someone whose perceived gender is opposite their anatomical sex, particularly a trans woman or feminine boy. Implies that others who are attracted to them (typically heterosexual men) are maliciously deceived (i.e. "trapped") regarding their "real" gender.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is considered derogatory and dehumanizing<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt — portmanteau of "trans" and "goon". Originally a term for members of the Something Awful forum ("goons") who are transgender. Used as a slur for trans women, connoting violent or sinister ulterior motives for transitioning<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt or Template:Wt/Template:Wt – a female-to-male (FtM) and male-to-female (MtF) transgender/transsexual person, respectively, who has not had genital surgery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is often used in a derogatory or pornographic context.
• pooner – a derogatory term originating from 4chan describing trans men who do not pass well as male.

Terms related to transgender and non-binary people

• clock – to recognize someone as being transgender<ref name="transgendermap.com" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• deadname – as a noun, a transgender person's birth name. As a verb, to refer to someone by their deadname.<ref name="transgendermap.com" /> The etymologically identical term necronym is also sometimes used with the same meaning
• Template:Wt – a transfeminine person's penis, especially one changed by hormone use. Also known as gick, girlcock, or gock<ref name="transgendermap.com" />
• malefail – to be gendered as feminine when trying to present in a masculine gender role<ref name="transgendermap.com" />
• packing – the act of wearing padding or a phallic object to present the appearance of a penis<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• tuck - any attempt to hide the appearance of a penis bulge. It is often recommended to use tight clothing and not to use tape or other sticky or sharp objects due to safety concerns.
• passing – to be perceived as a gender one is attempting to pass as.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Usually in relation to trans people
• skoliosexual – to describe attraction to non-binary people<ref name="skoliosexual">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• stealth – passing to the extent that most people can't tell that you are trans<ref name="transgendermap.com"/>
• TERF – acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist"; a feminist whose advocacy excludes or opposes the rights of trans people. It also, more infrequently, used to refer to someone hostile to transgender people<ref name="TerfOED">Template:Cite OED</ref>
• Template:Wt or TMA/TMC – transmisogyny-exempt or transmisogyny-affected/confined, ascribing those who are, or are not, a target of transmisogyny, the intersection of transphobia and misogyny<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• transgenderism – a term used by anti-trans extremists seeking to dehumanize transgender people by saying that being transgender is an ideology rather than an identity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the past (the mid to late 20th century), the term was used non-derogatorily to refer to being transgender, though this meaning has become obsolete

Terms describing cisgender or heterosexual people

• breeder – a heterosexual person, especially one with children<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Cambridgebreeder">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Visible anchor (portmanteau of cis + lesbian) – a cisgender lesbian
• Template:Visible anchor – someone who is cisgender and heterosexual and/or heteroromantic
• Template:Visible anchor – someone who is cisgender and queer, such as cis lesbians, cis gay men, and cis bisexuals<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• chaser – someone attracted to transgender people who value them for their trans status alone, rather than being attracted to them as a person<ref name="transgendermap.com" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• fag hag – a heterosexual woman who specifically associates with gay men<ref name="Bering2010">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dawne1995">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Dictionaryfaghag">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• fag stag – heterosexual man who enjoys company of gay men<ref name="Single in the City">Template:Cite web</ref>

Terms describing asexual or aromantic people

• ace – short for asexual<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – asexual + sexy<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• aro – short for aromantic<ref name="Insider">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt, aro-ace, aro/ace – both aromantic and asexual<ref name="Insider" />
• ace of spades – an aromantic asexual<ref name="AceSuits">Template:Cite book</ref>
• ace of hearts – a romantic asexual<ref name="AceSuits" />
• ace of diamond – a demiromantic demisexualTemplate:Citation needed
• ace of clubs – a greyromantic greysexualTemplate:Citation needed
• SAM – split attraction model – a model that sexual and romantic orientation can be split, often used within the aromantic and asexual community<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Wt – a non-romantic or platonic version of crush<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• queerplatonic relationship – committed intimate relationships which are not romantic nor (necessarily) sexual in nature
• zucchini – queerplatonic partner<ref name="Chasin">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Counterpoint">Template:Cite journal</ref>

LGBTQ subgroups

File:Pride 2004 bears.jpg

Bears marching in San Francisco's pride parade in 2004

The following slang terms have been used to represent various types of people within the LGBTQ community:

• bear – a larger and often hairier man. The bear subgroup is among the oldest and largest of the LGBTQ community. Pride.com states "Bears are on the heavier side, either muscular, beefy, or chunky. They wouldn't dream of shaving their body hair (which comes in abundance) and they usually have a full beard to match."<ref name=":03">Template:Cite web</ref> Attitude magazine describes bears as "typically older" with a big build, a belly, and lots of hair.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite web</ref> There are many bear 'subtypes', including the black bear (Black or African American men), the brown bear (Hispanic men), the grizzly bear ("dominant bears of extreme stature or hairiness"),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the koala bear (Australian men),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the panda bear (men of Asian descent),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the polar bear, which represents an older bear with white hair<ref name=":03" />
  • cub – a younger bear.<ref name=":12" /> Pride.com describes cubs as "baby bears" or "large, hairy guys in their teens and 20s who are on their way to becoming a bear"<ref name="Baker 2010" />Template:Rp<ref name="SCRUFF" /><ref name=":03" />
  • bear chaser – a man who pursues bears<ref name="SCRUFF" />
  • otter – a man who is slender and hairy<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":12" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • wolf – Pride.com says, "Similar to an otter, a wolf has some hair and is in between a twink and a bear. However, there are some key differences between wolves and otters. Wolves typically have a lean, muscular build and are sexually aggressive."<ref name=":03" /> Attitude says wolves are "typically older and masculine" with a "muscular/athletic build"<ref name=":12" /><ref name="Baker 2010" />Template:Rp
• bull – Pride.com says a bull is a "hunky, muscular" bodybuilder who weighs 200 pounds or more. The website says, "These men are big, strong and have muscles you didn't even know existed."<ref name=":03" /> Attitude says bulls have a "super-muscular build" with any hair style, and can be any age<ref name=":12" />
• chicken – a young twink.<ref name=":03" /> Attitude says chickens are "hairless and young" with a slim or skinny build<ref name=":12" />
• chickenhawk – a typically older man who seeks younger men. From chickenhawk, a designation for several birds which are thought to hunt chickens<ref name=":03" />
• pig – someone who is "more focused on sex than anything else, often into kinkier and somewhat seedier sexual practices", according to Pride.com<ref name=":03" />
• silver fox – an older man with gray hair<ref name=":12" />
• twink – a young or young-looking gay man, with little body hair and a slender build<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Baker 2010" />Template:Rp<ref name="SCRUFF" />
• twunk – a twink with well-developed physique (from twink + hunk)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric
• Gender transposition
• Handkerchief code
• LGBTQ linguistics
• Terminology of homosexuality

References

Works cited

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
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Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• T., Anna (2020). Opacity - Minority - Improvisation: An Exploration of the Closet Through Queer Slangs and Postcolonial Theory. Bielefeld: Transcript. Template:ISBN.

External links

• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite thesis