female-to-male

[ fee-meyl-tuh-meyl ]

adjective

1. Sometimes Offensive. noting or relating to a person who was assigned female at birth but whose gender identity or gender expression is male.

noun

1. Sometimes Offensive. a person who was assigned female at birth but whose gender identity or gender expression is male. : FTM, FtM trans man.

Sensitive Note

Female-to-male was once the accepted terminology for men who were assigned female at birth. The term continues to be used in medical literature, and some transgender people do identify that way. Especially among younger transgender people, however, trans man is now a more popular term for this demographic. For some people, the term female-to-male can be offensive for its implication that trans men were “originally” female, and have only now become male.

Word History and Origins

Origin of female-to-male¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

In the movie, Angel talks to female-to-male transsexuals, like himself, about their sex-change experiences.

From The Daily Beast