Cisgender / Cisgender Identity
Cisgender / Cisgender Identity – from the Latin prefix cis-, meaning “on this side,” and the English word gender – a gender identity referring to people whose gender corresponds to the sex assigned to them at birth.
The prefix cis- means “on this side,” whereas the prefix trans- has the opposite meaning and refers to “the other side” or “across.” The term cisgender is used to name the previously unmarked norm against which transgender identity is often contrasted.
Similarly, cissexuality or cissexual may be contrasted with transsexuality or transsexual, although the latter terms are now more often used in historical, medical, or specific self-identificatory contexts rather than as general neutral designations.
The term cissexuality was first used by the German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch in 1991 to indicate that the correspondence between sex assigned at birth and gender, usually treated as the norm, is not self-evident.
See also: Cisgender Privilege, Transgender, Gender Identity, Genderism.
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