Cisgender

Someone whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. Most people are cisgender.

Cisgender means you feel like the gender you were called when you were born. If you were born and the doctors said "it's a girl" and you feel like a girl, you're cisgender. Most people are.

Simplify

Cisgender (often shortened to "cis") means your matches the sex you were assigned at birth. So if you were born and the doctors said "it's a girl," and you feel like a girl — you're cisgender. Most people are cis, and the word exists so there's a way to describe this without just calling it "normal" (which would imply that being is abnormal).

Cisgender means your gender identity matches the sex you were assigned at birth.
It's often shortened to "cis."
Most people are cisgender, but not everyone.
The word isn't an insult — it's just a descriptor, like "tall" or "left-handed."

Why the word exists

Before the word "cisgender" came into common use, there wasn't really a word for "not transgender." People would just say "normal," which is a problem because it frames being trans as abnormal. Having a specific term — cisgender — puts both experiences on equal footing. It's a neutral descriptor, not a judgement.

The "cis" part comes from Latin, meaning "on the same side of." Trans means "across" or "on the other side of." So cisgender literally means "on the same side as" — your gender identity is on the same side as the sex you were assigned at birth.

What it doesn't mean

Being cisgender doesn't mean you've never questioned your gender. Lots of cis people think about what gender means to them, or wonder whether they fully fit the expectations that come with being a boy or a girl. Questioning doesn't make you trans, and not questioning doesn't make you more cis. It just means your overall sense of your gender lines up with what was on your birth certificate.

It also doesn't mean you have to fit every stereotype associated with your gender. A cis boy who likes makeup is still cis if he feels like a boy. A cis girl who hates dresses is still cis if she feels like a girl. Gender identity is about your internal sense of who you are, not about whether you match society's expectations.

Things people get wrong

"Cisgender is an insult." It's not. It's a descriptive term, the same way "" describes people who are attracted to the opposite sex. Some people react negatively to being labelled with a word they didn't choose, but that's true of any descriptor. The word itself is neutral.

"Everyone is either cis or trans." Not quite. Some people identify as , genderfluid, or other identities that don't fit neatly into the cis/trans binary. Gender is more complicated than two boxes.

Things people ask about cisgender

Am I cisgender?

If you were assigned a sex at birth and your gender identity matches it — you feel like a boy and were assigned male, or feel like a girl and were assigned female — then yes, you're cisgender. If that feels right to you, that's your answer.

Do I have to use this word for myself?

You don't have to use any label you don't want to. But it's useful to know the word, especially when talking about gender in general. It helps make conversations clearer and fairer.

Is being cis better than being trans?

No. They're just different experiences of gender. Neither is better, worse, or more valid than the other.

When a baby is born, the doctors say whether it's a boy or a girl based on the body. If you grow up and that feels right to you — you were called a boy and you feel like a boy, or you were called a girl and you feel like a girl — that's called being cisgender. Most people are cisgender.

The short version is "cis." It's not a rude word. It's just a way of describing this, the same way "tall" or "right-handed" describes something about you.

The word exists so that people don't have to call being cisgender "normal," because that would make it sound like being is not normal. Both are just different experiences of who you are.

Being cisgender doesn't mean you have to act a certain way. A boy who likes makeup is still a boy if he feels like one. A girl who hates dresses is still a girl if she feels like one. It's about how you feel inside, not about what you like or how you dress.

Some people question their gender and still turn out to be cisgender. That's fine. Thinking about it doesn't change anything.

Transgender

Someone whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Transgender (or trans) means feeling like a different gender from what you were called when you were born. A trans girl was called a boy at birth but is a girl. A trans boy was called a girl at birth but is a boy.

Gender identity

Your internal sense of your own gender, whether that's male, female, non-binary, or something else.

Gender identity is your own inner feeling of whether you're a boy, a girl, both, or neither. For most people it matches what they were called when they were born. For some people it doesn't.

LGBTQ+

An umbrella term standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and other identities.

LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. The + covers other identities too. It's a word for the community of people who aren't straight or who don't feel like the gender they were called at birth.