Berdache Definition

bər-dăsh
noun
Among certain Native American peoples, a person, usually a male, who assumes the gender identity and is granted the social status of the opposite sex.
American Heritage
A North American Indian male transvestite or homosexual who was accepted in his assumption of the dress, role, and status of a woman.
Webster's New World

(anthropology) Among Native Americans, a person who identifies with any of a variety of gender identities which are not exclusively those of their biological sex; a transgender person. [from the 1890s; peaked in commonness in the 1990s]

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Berdache

Noun

Singular:
berdache
Plural:
berdaches

Origin of Berdache

  • North American French from French bardache catamite from Italian dialectal bardascia from Arabic bardaj slave from Persian bardah prisoner from Middle Persian vartak from Old Iranian varta- welə- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From French bardache, from Italian bardascia, perhaps from Arabic بردج (bardaj, “slave”). Compare bardash.

    From Wiktionary

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