Gender Construction Kit Logo

MTF

What does it mean?

MTF is short for “male-to-female”.

“Denoting or relating to a person whose birth sex is male and who subsequently adopts the identity or appearance of a female, especially one who has undergone gender reassignment.”

Oxford Dictionaries

Terms with similar meanings are trans woman or trans girl.

History focused

"MTF" is a word that describes people using their history.

Words like this can:

  • make it visible that people in that situation are able to make changes
  • make it visible that people in that situation are allowed to make changes

However, words like this can also:

  • help create an expectation that people’s history is public and not private
  • give the impression that someone was not always their current gender

Think carefully before using this word to describe someone or a group of people - they may not wish to be described that way.

Errors and omissions

Is there something missing from this page? Have you spotted something that isn't correct? Please tweet us or message us on Facebook to let us know.