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If we go by the dictionaries like OALD and MacMillan, the word is adjective and used for a person who is in between male and female.

But, I often read 'transgender man' or 'woman'. Here, transgender is again an adjective. MM dictionary says transgender=transgendered.

My question is: How this word takes men and women because the word means someone between two genders. Does it mean that 'transgender woman' has more features of a woman?

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Interesting question! "transgender man" or "transgender woman" has nothing to do with how similar your features are to male or female.

A transgender man is a person who was born a female, but identifies as a male. A transgender woman is a person who was born a male, but identifies as a female.

This is actually entirely separate from what genitalia you currently have. However, these things are often on a spectrum in reality, and so there are many other terms that are sometimes used.

This is a topic that is currently evolving, but the general definitions I gave will likely stay the same.

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    To address another point in the question, I hear transgender or trans much more often than transgendered. Though grammatically correct, I do not believe that transgendered is the chosen language used within the LGBT community.
    – David K
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 13:06
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    As far as I am aware, the phrase "person who was assigned male at birth" is preferred over "person who was born a male" in the LGBTQ community.
    – Rhymoid
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 15:09
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    Regardless of all this, and speaking grammatically, as an adjective, the -ed is totally unnecessary. Transgender man is just as clear as transgendered man. As a copy editor, I always remove ed. I believe the trans community doesn't like it anyway, but idk.
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 17:12
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    It's been explained to me that the basis for preferring "transgender" over "transgendered" is that the latter connotes that something has happened or been done to the person to make them trans. See time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered for more insight.
    – Russell Borogove
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 17:35
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    While all this discussion of biology is interesting, we should stick to language. @Rhymoid made a point about the language a certain group prefers to use. Let's not get derailed.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 18:39
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Edit: I prefer the other answer for using "identifies" instead of changed.

Transgender means someone who has already changed from male to female or vice versa. Someone between the two would be androgynous in appearance, but might say they are any of a number of things, such as agender, neuter, or likely some other things I haven't heard of.

A transgender man is someone who has changed from female to male, and a transgender woman has changed from male to female. (Unless the person speaking doesn't believe changing gender is possible, in which case they often refer to a person as the original gender. But this viewpoint is considered insensitive and mean.)

Edit: I'll point out that the language used for this topic is very quickly changing as the transgender and LGBT community adapt their language usage to better fit reality. Before, whatever words were used to describe these people were often chosen by people outside their community remarking on them. Now, they have a chance to choose words to reflect how they see themselves.

The dictionaries will have difficulty keeping up for a few years.

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If we go by the dictionaries like OALD and MacMillan, the word is adjective and used for a person who is in between male and female.

The preferred modern terminology for this is intersex for someone with physical characteristics that don't match that of typical males or females, and a variety of terms including non-binary or genderqueer for someone who identifies or deliberately presents as something other than typical male or female.

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  • This is good information but it doesn't directly address the question, which is about the word transgendered. I think if you added some discussion about it, your answer would be more helpful.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 19:56
  • The high-ranked answer answers the question itself. I suppose my answer might by more appropriate as a comment.
    – Russell Borogove
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 22:01
  • I think it adds valuable information as an answer. I thought you might have a different way of explaining it that would be helpful. I think it's good to have a complete answer even if it reiterates some points just in case one of the others disappears, and I didn't mean to imply this wasn't a good answer.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 22:07
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I have never seen anyone write the term "Transgender X" it's always been "TransX" (Transman/Transwoman).

A transman is someone who was AFB (assigned female at birth) and is now living as a man, and a transwoman is someone who was AMB (assigned male at birth) and is now living as a woman.

Note: Living as. The legal status of this doesn't align correctly with the definition. For example, if we assume you are a transman; you live like a man, wear men's clothes, have changed your female name to something male (unless you had a unisex, you liked your female name, etc.), people refer to you he/his/him, BUT you haven't had GRS (gender realignment surgery) you, legally, are still a woman. Meaning although you are a man in all but hormones and genitals, you would still be treated like a woman in any legal system; e.g. you would get sent to the woman's ward of a prison, should you be imprisoned before you have had/started GRS.

HOWEVER. Transgender also extends to non-binary, though not through legal wording. A non-binary person is someone who doesn't fit nicely into "male" or "female" categories. Where a trans(wo)man fits into the male/female categories, the opposite of what they were assigned at birth, a non-binary person may feel in between male and female, or outside of it altogether.

Someone who identifies as androgyne will say that they are a little bit male, and a little bit female, in simple terms.

Someone who identifies as genderfluid will say that some days they are male, some days female, and some days they may be neither, in simple terms.

Someone who identifies as agender/neutrosis will say that they don't have a gender/don't identify as male/female, in simple terms.

And someone who identifies as genderqueer could be describe as any of the above, or one of the many other gender definitions that are out there.

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