Berdache
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Among Native Americans, a person who identifies with any of a variety of gender identities which are not exclusively those of their biological sex; a transgender person. dated, ethnic, offensive, slur
"These culturally bound assumptions have bedevilled the entire anthropological literature on the berdache in Native American cultures, and it is because of this that I have followed the lead of Angelino and Shedd when referring to the phenomenon of the berdache-transgenderal, for as Fitzgerald (1977) points out: "A berdache . . . may be a transvestite, but a transvestite need not be a berdache; and neither need be homosexual.""
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"These culturally bound assumptions have bedevilled the entire anthropological literature on the berdache in Native American cultures, and it is because of this that I have followed the lead of Angelino and Shedd when referring to the phenomenon of the berdache-transgenderal, for as Fitzgerald (1977) points out: "A berdache . . . may be a transvestite, but a transvestite need not be a berdache; and neither need be homosexual.""
Etymology
From French bardache, from Italian bardassa, perhaps from Arabic بَرْدَج (bardaj, “slave”). Doublet of bardash.
Related phrases
More for "berdache"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.