Word.ws English Dictionary

transplain

transplain verb: to explain transgender issues to a cis person (as a trans person or ally), especially in a condescending, heavy-handed, or preachy manner.

Verb

transplain (third-person singular simple present transplains, present participle transplaining, simple past and past participle transplained)

  1. (Internet, colloquial, derogatory, usually) To explain transgender issues to a cis person (as a trans person or ally), especially in a condescending, heavy-handed, or preachy manner.
    • When you lead with story instead of education, then it becomes absorbed emotionally and intuitively so you don't really have to explain things. I don't think people respond as well to being transplained.2015, Rhys Ernst, quoted in Mehera Bonner, "Rhys Ernst on the Pop Culture Trans Movement", Marie Claire, 21 August 2015
    • The “they” I’m referring to is not transgender people. (Though the bullies will pretend that it is.) I’m referring to the “trans activists” — some sinister, most joyless, and more than a few who don’t even identify as transgender themselves — who delight in “transplaining” to the rest of us the...2018 October 1, Lucy Bannerman, “Trans movement has been hijacked by bullies and trolls”, in The Times, UK

Forms of transplain

third-person singular presenttransplains
present participletransplaining
past participletransplained
pasttransplained
alternative formtrans-splain
alternative formtranssplain

Origin of transplain

From trans + -splain, after mansplain.

Questions about transplain

What does transplain mean?
Transplain means to explain transgender issues to a cis person (as a trans person or ally), especially in a condescending, heavy-handed, or preachy manner.
What part of speech is transplain?
Transplain is a verb.
What is the past tense of transplain?
The past tense of transplain is transplained.

Words near transplain in the dictionary

  1. transplacental
  2. transplacentally
  3. transplacentary
  4. transplaces
  5. transplacing
  6. transplain
  7. transplained
  8. transplainer
  9. transplainers
  10. transplaining
  11. transplains

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: transplain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “transplain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/transplain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.