Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun colloquial, slang, vulgar, pejorative, offensive A transsexual, transgender or transvestite person, usually a transwoman.
  • noun colloquial Short form of transistor radio.
  • noun colloquial Short form of transmission in the automotive sense.
  • noun colloquial Short form of transformer.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

All are shortened forms as indicated.

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Examples

  • My comment is that their are nuances to using the term tranny, much as there are nuances to using the term queer.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • I have heard trans and gay people use the term tranny in the way that we use dyke or fag sometimes - in that somehow it's okay for us and not okay for other people to use.

    AfterEllen.com - Because visibility matters 2009

  • (LGBT) reporters, LGBT editors, and LGBT new and legacy media organizations using the term tranny, but in the name of "reclaiming" the term for the LGBT community, the nuance is often lost.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • Since I've seen two examples of LGBT media using the term tranny in a defamatory manner in the past week, and the defenses of the using the term tranny based on the reclaiming of the word by the LGBT community, I believe I need to explain the nuances in ways LGBT new and legacy media can understand.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • Those LGBT media types who insist it's their right to use the term tranny in their written product -- when they know that the term has been identified in LGBT stylebooks as defamatory and offensive -- Well, they are very much insisting on a personal right to use the language of LGBT bigotry when referring to others who are not in their subcommunity of the broader LGBT community. by: you @ soon

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • Dallas Voice seriously identified RuPaul as the go-to expert on the term tranny?

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • And, my problem isn't that some LGBT media and reporters use the term tranny, but that they don't comprehend the nuances of when -- and how -- to use the term.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • I would prefer that LGBT media use alternatives to tranny (for example: transgender people, trans people or transpeople) when describing groups of trans people, but there are times when the term tranny may be the most appropriate term because of the self-identification of an individual or a particular group.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • Well, let's redirect our attention to the term tranny, keeping in mind the nuances of how LGBT people and LGBT media use queer in mind.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

  • OutSports about how they use the term tranny; I specifically complained about an

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2009

Comments

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  • And the GMCs and the Straight 8 Fords

    were coughing and wheezing and they

    percolated as they tossed the gravel

    underneath the fenders to weave home

    a wet slick anaconda of a two lane

    with tire irons and crowbars a rattlin'

    with a tool box and a pony saddle

    you're grinding gears, shifting into first

    yeah and that goddamn tranny's just getting worse

    (Tom Waits, Putnam County)

    January 17, 2007

  • "Tranny" is a shortening of "Transsexual", a person who's gender identity does not match their biological sex. It's pretty derogatory in America, however, in Australia (where it was originally coined), this is not the case, in fact it's used as a rallying word.

    June 27, 2009