Cisgender describes someone whose internal feelings of sexual identity match the sexual identity he was assigned at birth. The word cisgender was coined by biologist Dana Leland Defosse, Ph.D., in 1994 on a Usenet newsgroup. The prefix cis- means on the closer side of, on this side, derived from the Latin word cis, and gender comes from the Old French words gendre and genre, which mean type, kind, gender. Cisgender is an adjective, the term cisgendered is also considered correct. The abbreviation cis is sometimes used, informally.
Transgender describes someone whose internal feelings of sexual identity do not match the sexual identity he was assigned at birth. The word transgender is a back-formation from the word transgenderism, a term first used by John F Olivan, a psychiatrist, in 1965 in the textbook Sexual Hygiene and Pathology. The prefix trans- means across, on the other side of, derived from the Latin word trans. Transgender is an adjective, the term transgendered is also considered correct. The abbreviation trans is sometimes used, informally.
Examples
Not only are you faced with the same possibility of sexual objectification from men through dating that cisgender women face, but there is this extra layer of garbage you have to get past. (The Huffington Post)
As a white, cisgendered Aussie male of a certain age, I could identify as a member of a persecuted minority myself and luxuriate in self-pity while being perpetually offended. (The Australian)
Ever since, health professionals and lay people alike have debated the origins of gender identity, the wisdom of altering one’s biologically determined sex, and whether society should accept the transgender community as a fact of nature. (The New York Times)
All the Hillary and Bernie voters — they get so worked up about transgendered bathrooms and income inequality and “women’s reproductive health issues.” (The Boston Herald)