cis

¹

[ sis ]

adjective

1. cisgender or cissexual:

   He may not be macho, but he's definitely a cis male.

noun

1. a person who is cisgender or cissexual.

cis-

²

1. a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin meaning “on the near side of; on this side of” ( cisalpine ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words ( cisatlantic ).
2. Chemistry. a specialization of this denoting a geometric isomer having a pair of identical atoms or groups attached on the same side of two atoms linked by a double bond. Compare trans- ( def 2 ).
3. a prefix meaning “on the same side of,” referring to the alignment of one’s gender identity with one’s sex assigned at birth ( cisgender; cissexual ).

C.I.S.

³

abbreviation for

1. Commonwealth of Independent States.

cis-

¹

prefix

1. on this or the near side of

   cisalpine

2. (often in italics) indicating that two groups of atoms in an unsaturated compound lie on the same side of a double bond Compare trans-

   cis-butadiene

CIS

²

abbreviation for

1. Commonwealth of Independent States

Sensitive Note

See trans, gender ¹.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cis¹

By shortening

Origin of cis²

From Latin cis (adverb and preposition) “on this side, on this side of, within”

Word History and Origins

Origin of cis¹

from Latin

Example Sentences

To test their theory, they compared the processing of two different fats, cis fats and trans fats.

From Science Daily

The difference between these two comes down to the placement of a hydrogen atom; cis fats, found in natural foods like fish or walnuts, have a kink in their structure caused by two side-by-side hydrogen atoms, whereas trans fats, found in processed foods like margarine or anything fried, have a straight-chain structure caused by two opposing hydrogen atoms.

From Science Daily

Importantly, the kink in cis fats means they cannot be tightly packed -- a positive feature for avoiding impenetrable clogs.

From Science Daily

Starting with cells in Petri dishes, the team looked at whether trans or cis fats were preferentially metabolized by SPT -- and it turns out that SPT preferred trans fats.

From Science Daily

Then, they moved from Petri dishes to mice, and Gengatharan designed otherwise identical diets containing either high trans or high cis fats but little cholesterol, feeding them to mice for 16 weeks.

From Science Daily