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)
- 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 present | transplains |
|---|---|
| present participle | transplaining |
| past participle | transplained |
| past | transplained |
| alternative form | trans-splain |
| alternative form | transsplain |
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
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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “transplain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/transplain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
