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List of LGBT slang terms

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This is a list of slang terms used by people to describe LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people. Many terms are slurs against LGBT people. Some terms originate from the LGBT community itself.

For lesbians

A member of the Dykes on Bikes motorcycle club
  • Bean flicker, "Likening the clitoris to a bean"[1]
  • Butch, butch-broad[2]
  • Carpet muncher (or "rug muncher")[3]
  • Dyke ("bull dyke", "bull dagger", alternatively "bulldagger", "bulldicker"[4]), from 1920s black American slang[5][6][7]
  • Gillette Blade, a 1950s era term for bisexual women, whose sexuality "cuts both ways"[11]
  • Kiki, a term used primarily from the 1940s until the 1960s to indicate a lesbian who was not butch or femme and did not have a preference for either butch or femme partners[12]
  • Kitty puncher or pussy puncher, with both "kitty" and "pussy" referring to a woman's vagina, and "puncher" as a variation on various derogatory terms for gay men, such "donut puncher".[13]
  • Lezzie/Lesbo/Leso/Les/Leb (also "lezzer" or "lesser") (abbreviation for "lesbian")[citation needed]
  • Lipstick lesbian, a lesbian who exhibits a greater amount of feminine gender attributes, such as wearing make-up, dresses, skirts, etc.
  • Muff diver[14]
  • The Game of Flats (an 18th century English term for sex between women)[15]
  • Todger dodger, "todger" meaning "penis"[16]

For gay men

  • Anal assassin (United Kingdom) or "anal astronaut"[17]
  • Arse bandit[18] or Ass bandit[19]
  • Back door bandit[20]
  • Backgammon player (late 18th century Britain)[21]
  • Bear, a gay man who is large, hairy, and rugged.[22]
  • Bent, bentshot or bender[23][24]
  • Bone smuggler[25]
  • Brownie king or brown piper[26]
  • Bufter, bufty (mainly Scottish) or booty buffer[17]
  • Bugger (from Buggery)
  • Bum boy or bum chum,[27] also bum robber[28]
  • Bum-driller[29]
  • Bumhole engineer[30]
  • Butt pirate,[31] butt boy, butt rider, butt pilot, or butt rustler[31]
  • Chi chi man (Jamaica and the Caribbean)[32][33]
  • Cockstruction worker (referring to a gay man who is a construction worker)[34]
  • Cock jockey[35]
  • Cock knocker, cockknocker and cocknocker[35]
  • Cockpipe cosmonaut[36]
  • Crafty butcher [37]
  • Daffodil or "daffy", a derogatory term
  • Donut puncher/muncher[13]
  • Faggot,[38][39][40] Fag[41]
  • Fairy (common and acceptable for part of the 20th century)[42]
  • Finocchio (from Italy, meaning fennel)[43]
  • Flamer[44]
  • Flit[45]
  • Flower[46]
  • Friend of Franky
  • Friend of Dorothy
  • Fruit (also fruit loop, fruit packer, butt fruit)[47]
  • Fudge packer[23]
  • Gaysian, referring to a gay Asian[48]
  • Gym Bunny, often referring to a gay man who obsessively works out at the gym.
  • Harry hoofter, rhyming slang of poofter[49]
  • Homo
  • Jobby jabber (mainly Scottish with jobby referring to excrement)[50]
  • Knob jockey[51]
  • Light in the loafers,[52] Light in the pants,[52] or Light in the fedora[53]
  • Limp wristed[citation needed]
  • Marmite miner[54]
  • Meat Masseuse[34]
  • Muscle Mary (see Gym Bunny)
  • Nancy or nancy boy, girlyboy[55] or nellie[56]
  • Oklahomo[57]
  • Pansy[58]
  • Payaso
  • Peterpuffer
  • Poof (variations include: poofter, pouf, poove, pooftah, pooff, puff) (U.K, Australia, New Zealand, California)[59]
  • Queen, princess and variations[60]
  • Bean queen (also taco queen or Salsa queen), gay man attracted to Hispanic men[61][62]
  • Brownie queen, obsolete slang for gay man interested in anal sex (used by men who disliked anal sex)[63]
  • Chicken queen, older gay man interested in younger or younger appearing men[64]
  • Curry queen, gay man attracted to Asian-Indian gay men[35]
  • Dinge queen, gay man attracted to black gay men (offensive use of "dinge" meaning black)[65]
  • Drag queen, gay man into cross-dressing for performance[65]
  • Grey queen, a gay person who works for the financial services industry (this term originates from the fact that in the 1950s, people who worked in this profession often wore grey flannel suits).[66]
  • Gym queen, gay man given to athletic development[67]
  • Pissy queen, gay man perceived as fussy[59]
  • Potato queen, gay Asian man attracted mainly to white men.[68]
  • Rice queen, gay man attracted mainly to East Asian men.[68]
  • Scat queen, gay man into coprophilia[69]
  • Queer, umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender, sometimes considered a slur
  • Ring raider[17]
  • Shit stabber[69]
  • Sissy
  • Sod (from Sodomy)[70]
  • Sperm gurgler (referring to the act of oral sex)
  • Turd burglar[16]
  • Twink, a young or young-looking gay man, with little body hair and a slender build[71]
  • Woolly,[72] woofter and woolie woofter, a character from an Evening Standard cartoon and rhyming slang for poofter[73]

For bisexuals or pansexuals

  • Switch hitter, from the baseball term[citation needed]
  • Bicon: portmanteau of the words bisexual and icon. Used to refer to a bisexual celebrity[74]
  • Unicorn/Hot Bi Babe (HBB): a bisexual person who desires multiple partners and is willing to join an existing married couple (known as a "Dyad", versus a "Triad" when there are three people),[75] the presumption being the "unicorn" will date and become sexually involved with both members of the couple.[76] "Unicorns" are so named because people willing to agree to such arrangements are rare, whereas couples looking for a lovers who will agree to these terms are common. "Dyads" actively seeking unicorns are called "unicorn hunters".[77]

For androgynous or intersex people

For transgender and nonbinary people

Further information: Attraction to transgender people § Alternative terms
  • Cuntboy / Dickgirl, a female-to-male (FtM) and male-to-female (MtF) transgender/transsexual person, respectively, who has not had bottom surgery.
  • Enby, from the acronym NB ("nonbinary").[81]
  • Kathoey, a transgender woman in Thailand.
  • Lady Boy ("ladyboy" or "lady-boy"), English translation of kathoey, similar or equivalent to transgender woman.
  • Shemale, a trans woman with male genitalia and possibly female secondary sex characteristics.[82] Primarily a term used in pornography and often considered derogatory.
  • T-girl, short for transgender / transsexual girl, considered derogatory by some.[83]
  • Tranny, slur used for transgender people.[84][85]
  • Transbian (non-derogatory), (portmanteau of "trans" and "lesbian"), a transgender lesbian.

Gender-neutral terms

  • Molly and Tommy, In 18th century England, the term "molly" was used for male homosexuals, implying effeminacy; "tommy", a slang term for a homosexual woman in use by 1781, and may have been coined by analogy. See Molly house.[86]
  • Fag hag, a woman who makes friends with, or is attracted to, gay men.[87]
  • Skoliosexual, to describe attraction to non-binary people.[88][89]

Cisgender

See also

References

  1. ^ (Green 2005, p. 82)
  2. ^ (Green 2005, p. 222)
  3. ^ (Dalzell 2008, p. 170)
  4. ^ (Green 2005, p. 146)
  5. ^ Krantz, Susan E. (1995). "Reconsidering the Etymology of Bulldike". American Speech. 70 (2): 217–221. doi:10.2307/455819. JSTOR 455819.
  6. ^ "Prisons and Prisoners". GLBTQ Encyclopedia. 2006. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  7. ^ (Dynes et al. 1990, p. 335)
  8. ^ (Dalzell 2008, p. 287)
  9. ^ Matthew Rottnek, Sissies and Tomboys: Gender Nonconformity and Homosexual Childhood, NYU Press, May 1, 1999 -
  10. ^ (Green 2005, p. 444)
  11. ^ [1] Gay L. A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, And Lipstick Lesbians (2006)
  12. ^ Haggerty, George; Zimmerman, Bonnie (2003-09-02). Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures edited by George Haggerty, Bonnie Zimmerman. ISBN 9781135578701. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  13. ^ a b (Green 2005, p. 440)
  14. ^ (Dalzell 2008, p. 679)
  15. ^ Norton, Rictor (30 March 2003) [14 April 2000]. "The Game of Flats, 1749" Homosexuality in Eighteenth Century England: A Sourcebook. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 978-0-304-36636-1. Archived from the original on 2008-01-24. Retrieved 15 October 2007. The reference is to A. G. Busbequius, Travels into Turkey, English translation (London, 1744). The original book, published much earlier, was invariably cited whenever lesbianism was mentioned, e.g., William Walsh's A Dialogue Concerning Women (London, 1691) and in Martin Schurig's Muliebria Historico-Medica (1729).
  16. ^ a b Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  17. ^ a b c (Green 2005, p. 161)
  18. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  19. ^ [2]
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bum bandit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ (Green 2005, p. 49)
  22. ^ George Mazzei, (1979). Who's Who in the Zoo?. "The Advocate", pages 42–43.
  23. ^ a b (Dalzell 2008)
  24. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  25. ^ (Green 2005, p. 154)
  26. ^ (Green 2005, p. 188)
  27. ^ (Green 2005, p. 206)
  28. ^ (Green 2005, p. 208)
  29. ^ "David Kato". The Economist. 15 Feb 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  30. ^ Spears, Richard A. (2001). Slang and Euphemism: A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Ethnic Slurs, Sexual Slang and Metaphor, Drug Talk, College Lingo, and Related Matters (3 ed.). Signet. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-451-20371-7.
  31. ^ a b (Green 2005, p. 226)
  32. ^ C Gutzmore, Casting the First Stone, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 2004 – Taylor & Francis, Volume 6, Number 1, April 2004, pp. 118–134(17)
  33. ^ Allan, Keith; Kate Burridge (2006). Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge University Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-521-81960-2. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  34. ^ a b Spears, Richard A. (2001-01-01). Slang and Euphemism: A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Ethnic Slurs, Sexual Slang and Metaphor, Drug Talk, College Lingo, and Related Matters. Signet. ISBN 9780451203717.
  35. ^ a b c Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  36. ^ (Green 2005, p. 232)
  37. ^ "crafty butcher". Green’s Dictionary of Slang. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  38. ^ "Faggot". Reference.com. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  39. ^ 2008, Paul Ryan Brewer, Value war: public opinion and the politics of gay rights, page 60
  40. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin. 2000. ISBN 978-0-618-70172-8.
  41. ^ ""Fag" definition, meaning". dictionary.cambridge.org. Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrieved 1 March 2015. [C] US slang an offensive word for a gay man
  42. ^ (Green 2005, p. 485)
  43. ^ Edward Anthony Gibbons (2008). A Cultural Affair. iUniverse. p. 6. ISBN 9780595611614. On many, a cold freezing night, of temperatures hovering near zero, the finocchios tease and try to encourage Tedesco to join in their warm body orgies.
  44. ^ "Definition of flamer". The Online Slang Dictionary. Retrieved 28 February 2015. flower n. #A homosexual who takes the female role in a gay relationship. Source: [1950's]
  45. ^ (Green 2005, p. 522)
  46. ^ "flower - Gay Slang Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  47. ^ (Green 2005, p. 549)
  48. ^ "The Gaysian".
  49. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  50. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  51. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  52. ^ a b (Partridge, Dalzell & Victor 2006, p. 1208)
  53. ^ Partridge, Dalzell & Victor (2006). p. 1208. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  54. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  55. ^ (Green 2005, p. 598)
  56. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  57. ^ Hirschhorn, Joel (July 19, 2005). "Oklahomo!: (Third Stage; 50 seats; $18 top)". Variety. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  58. ^ Kemp, A.C. (2002–2005). "Bad Baby Names". Slang City. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  59. ^ a b Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  60. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  61. ^ Cite error: The named reference A Brief Dictionary of Queer Slang and Culture was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  62. ^ "Dictionary of Sexual Terms". Sex-lexis.com. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  63. ^ "Interview". Gay Today. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
  64. ^ "Crossing Signals". Time. September 8, 1975. Retrieved 16 July 2007.
  65. ^ a b Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  66. ^ Rodgers, Bruce Gay Talk (The Queen's Vernacular): A Dictionary of Gay Slang New York: 1972 Parragon Books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam's Sons Page 99
  67. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  68. ^ a b Ayres T (1999). China doll - the experience of being a gay Chinese Australian. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 87-97
  69. ^ a b Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  70. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  71. ^ "Twink definition". Online dictionary. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  72. ^ Duckworth, Ted (1996–2007). "A Dictionary of Slang, Slanguistics". Peevish. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  73. ^ (Dalzell & Victor 2007) page 706.
  74. ^ Davis, Chloe O. (2021). The Queens' English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases. Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale. ISBN 978-0-593-13500-6.
  75. ^ "How to be a Sexual Unicorn".
  76. ^ http://www.unicornsrule.com/unicorn-polyamory/
  77. ^ "Hunting the Elusive Unicorn". 2012-04-22.
  78. ^ Leupp, Gary P. (1995). Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 174. ISBN 9780520919198. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  79. ^ (in German) Krauss, Friedrich Salomo et al. Japanisches Geschlechtsleben: Abhandlungen und Erhebungen über das Geschlechtsleben des japanischen Volkes; folkloristische Studien, Schustek, 1965
  80. ^ James, Edward (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. ISBN 9781107494671.
  81. ^ Bergman, S. Bear; Barker, Meg-John (2017). "Non-binary Activism". In Richards, Christina; Bouman, Walter Pierre; Barker, Meg-John (eds.). Genderqueer and Non-Binary Genders (PDF). Critical and Applied Approaches in Sexuality, Gender and Identity. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-137-51052-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  82. ^ Autumn Sandeen, Blaming The Victim, Angie Zapata, For Her Own Death, Shadowproof, 19 Mar 2009
  83. ^ "What Is A "T-Girl"?". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  84. ^ Kaveney, Roz (2010-06-30). "Why trans is in but tranny is out". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  85. ^ "GLAAD's Transgender Resources". Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. 2011-09-11. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  86. ^ Andreadis, 10, 51.
  87. ^ "A dictionary of slang - 'F' - UK Slang". www.peevish.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  88. ^ Michelson, Noah (16 October 2015). "What's a Skoliosexual?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  89. ^ Anderson-Minshall, Jacob (18 May 2017). "Is Fetishizing Trans Bodies Offensive?". The Advocate. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  90. ^ "A dictionary of slang - 'B' - Slang and colloquialisms of the UK". www.peevish.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  91. ^ Sian Ferguson (23 September 2019). "Cisgender and Straight Don't Mean the Same Thing — Here's Why". healthline. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
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