Cisgender /sis’jendər/ adj. Designating a person whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to him or her at birth.
The addition of cisgender in the Oxford English Dictionary is great news for everyone fighting for the equal treatment of transgender people. Defining cisgender is helping to recreate the norm. James Morton, transgender alliance manager at the Equality Network charity, said, “Its addition to the Oxford English Dictionary reflects the significant increase in discussion of gender diversity over recent years. We welcome the increased awareness of its meaning which this inclusion will bring.”
Of the 500 new words added to the dictionary, I decided some others needed a bit of recognition, too:
Backronym /ˈbakrəˌnim/ n. An acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word’s origin: Biodiversity Serving Our Nation, or BISON
Fap /fap/ v. (Of a man) Masturbate
FLOTUS /ˈflōdəs/ abbr. First Lady of the United States (Rock it, Michelle)
Shizzle /ˈSHizəl/ n. Used as a euphemism for “shit” in various senses and phrases
Image via Top News
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