The word trans is a broad term that encompasses multiple gender expressions and different identities such as transgender, cross-dresser, transvestite, or transsexual. It is used to refer to people whose identity does not correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth.
Sometimes, trans people require hormone treatment or surgeries to construct their body identity; this is not always the case (see the section on transvestite or transgender people). Being trans is not related to sexual orientation; therefore, a trans person can be gay, lesbian, or bisexual, etc.
The word trans is also used as an adjective to define an identity in itself. For example, ‘I am trans’. The trans movement worked to depathologize the trans experience and, in 2018, their efforts led to the World Health Organization (WHO) excluding transexuality from the list of mental illness.
Etymologically, in Latin the prefix trans means ‘through’ or ‘beyond’.