travesti

See also: travestí and travestì

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish travesti and Portuguese travesti, themselves both from French travesti. Doublet of travesty.

Noun

travesti (plural travestis)

1. A member of a Latin American gender role, variously construed as a cross-dressing man, a third gender or a trans woman.

Related terms

• en travesti

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁa.vɛs.ti/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

Noun

travesti m (plural travestis)

1. transvestite

Derived terms

• travestissement
• travestisme

Descendants

• → Greek: τραβεστί m or f (travestí)
• → Portuguese: travesti m or f
• → Spanish: travesti m or f
• → Turkish: travesti

Participle

travesti (feminine travestie, masculine plural travestis, feminine plural travesties)

1. past participle of travestir

Further reading

• “travesti”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• vitrâtes

Galician

Verb

travesti

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of travestir:
   1. first-person singular preterite indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch travestie (“travesty”), from French travesti (“disguised, burlesqued”), past participle of travestir (“to disguise”), from Italian travestire (“to dress up, disguise”), tra- (“across”) +‎ vestire (“to dress”), from Latin vestiō (“to clothe, dress”), from Proto-Italic *westis (“clothing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis (“dressing”), the verbal root *wes- (“to dress, clothe”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /traˈvɛsti/ [t̪raˈfɛs.t̪i]
• Rhymes: -ɛsti
• Syllabification: tra‧ves‧ti

Noun

travesti (plural travesti-travesti)

1. travesty
   1. parody or stylistic imitation

      Synonyms: karikatur, parodi

   2. absurd or grotesque misrepresentation
2. parody
3. caricature
4. mockery
5. crossdressing
   1. (drama) male ludruk performers wearing women's costumes

Further reading

• “travesti”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Verb

travesti

1. inflection of travestire:
   1. second-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• traviste

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French travesti.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾa.vesˈt͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾa.vesˈt͡ʃi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /tɾa.veʃˈt͡ʃi/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾaˈvɛʃ.ti/, /tɾa.vɛʃˈti/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾaˈvɛʃ.ti/, /tɾa.vɛʃˈti/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾaˈbɛʃ.ti/ [tɾaˈβɛʃ.ti], /tɾa.bɛʃˈti/ [tɾa.βɛʃˈti]

• Rhymes: -i, -ɛʃti
• Hyphenation: tra‧ves‧ti

Noun

travesti f (plural travestis)

1. (Brazil) A person with a Latin American transgender identity of people who were assigned male at birth but identify as female, non-binary or even a third gender.
   • Luís Roberto Barroso (18 April 2021), ADPF 527 MC / DF‎^[1] (in Portuguese) (court ruling), Brasília, page 16:

     Postulou-se a transferência de transexuais mulheres para presídios femininos e, após aditamento à inicial, que se conferisse às custodiadas travestis identificadas socialmente com o gênero feminino a possibilidade de optar por cumprir pena em estabelecimento prisional do gênero feminino ou masculino.

   • 2024 February 15, Leonardo Valle, “O que é travesti?”, in Igualize‎^[2]:

     “A travesti é uma pessoa que vivencia papéis de gênero feminino. Pode se entender como mulher, como integrante um terceiro gênero ou de um não-gênero. Ou seja, ela pode ou não se reconhecer como mulher ou somente como travesti”, explica a doutora em psicologia, professora da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) e presidenta da Associação Brasileira de Estudos da Trans-Homocultura (Abeth-Brasil) Jaqueline Gomes de Jesus.

     “The travesti is a person who experiences female gender roles. They can understand themselves as women, as belonging to a third gender or to a non-gender. In other words, she may or may not recognize themselves as a woman or only as a travesti”, explains Jaqueline Gomes de Jesus, PhD in psychology, professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) and president of the Brazilian Association of Trans-Homoculture Studies (Abeth-Brasil).

Noun

travesti m or f by sense (plural travestis)

1. (now offensive) transvestite; cross-dresser (person who wears clothing of the opposite sex)

   Synonym: traveco (Brazil, offensive)

Related terms

• travestir

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾa.vesˈt͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾa.vesˈt͡ʃi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /tɾa.veʃˈt͡ʃi/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ.vɨʃˈti/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ.vɨʃˈti/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ.bɨʃˈti/ [tɾɐ.βɨʃˈti]

• Hyphenation: tra‧ves‧ti

Verb

travesti

1. inflection of travestir:
   1. first-person singular preterite indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Further reading

• “travesti”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “travesti”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French travestir.

Verb

a travesti (third-person singular present travestește, past participle travestit) 4th conjugation

1. to disguise

Conjugation

    conjugation of travesti (fourth conjugation, -esc- infix)

infinitive			a travesti
gerund			travestind
past participle			travestit
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	travestesc	travestești	travestește	travestim	travestiți	travestesc
	imperfect	travesteam	travesteai	travestea	travesteam	travesteați	travesteau
	simple perfect	travestii	travestiși	travesti	travestirăm	travestirăți	travestiră
	pluperfect	travestisem	travestiseși	travestise	travestiserăm	travestiserăți	travestiseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să travestesc	să travestești	să travestească	să travestim	să travestiți	să travestească
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		travestește			travestiți
	negative		nu travesti			nu travestiți

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French travesti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾaˈbesti/ [t̪ɾaˈβ̞es.t̪i]
• Rhymes: -esti
• Syllabification: tra‧ves‧ti

Noun

travesti m or f by sense (plural travestis)

1. transvestite, cross-dresser

   Synonym: travestí

Noun

travesti f (plural travestis)

1. (Rioplatense, Chile, Andes Mountains) trans woman

   Synonym: mujer trans

Related terms

• travestir

Further reading

• “travesti”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Travestie, from English travesty, from French travestir. Doublet of transvestit.

Noun

travesti c

1. travesty

Declension

Declension of travesti

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	travesti	travestis
	definite	travestin	travestins
plural	indefinite	travestier	travestiers
	definite	travestierna	travestiernas

Synonyms

• parodi
• pastisch

Related terms

• travestera

References

• “travesti”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “travesti”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “travesti”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Turkish

Etymology

From French travesti.

Noun

travesti (definite accusative travestiyi, plural travestiler)

1. (slang, derogatory, offensive) transvestite

   Travesti olduğunu iki gün sonra farketmiş. Çok düşünüyor, tasarlıyor kafasında; bi' de kahroldu ruhen.

   He realised they were crossdressing two days after the fact. He thinks about it a lot, contemplating; he was emotionally ruined, too.

Declension

Declension of travesti

singular plural nominative travesti travestiler definite accusative travestiyi travestileri dative travestiye travestilere locative travestide travestilerde ablative travestiden travestilerden genitive travestinin travestilerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular travestim travestilerim 2nd singular travestin travestilerin 3rd singular travestisi travestileri 1st plural travestimiz travestilerimiz 2nd plural travestiniz travestileriniz 3rd plural travestileri travestileri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular travestimi travestilerimi 2nd singular travestini travestilerini 3rd singular travestisini travestilerini 1st plural travestimizi travestilerimizi 2nd plural travestinizi travestilerinizi 3rd plural travestilerini travestilerini dative singular plural 1st singular travestime travestilerime 2nd singular travestine travestilerine 3rd singular travestisine travestilerine 1st plural travestimize travestilerimize 2nd plural travestinize travestilerinize 3rd plural travestilerine travestilerine locative singular plural 1st singular travestimde travestilerimde 2nd singular travestinde travestilerinde 3rd singular travestisinde travestilerinde 1st plural travestimizde travestilerimizde 2nd plural travestinizde travestilerinizde 3rd plural travestilerinde travestilerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular travestimden travestilerimden 2nd singular travestinden travestilerinden 3rd singular travestisinden travestilerinden 1st plural travestimizden travestilerimizden 2nd plural travestinizden travestilerinizden 3rd plural travestilerinden travestilerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular travestimin travestilerimin 2nd singular travestinin travestilerinin 3rd singular travestisinin travestilerinin 1st plural travestimizin travestilerimizin 2nd plural travestinizin travestilerinizin 3rd plural travestilerinin travestilerinin Predicative forms singular plural 1st singular travestiyim travestilerim 2nd singular travestisin travestilersin 3rd singular travesti travestidir travestiler travestilerdir 1st plural travestiyiz travestileriz 2nd plural travestisiniz travestilersiniz 3rd plural travestiler travestilerdir