(FW) – Just a couple years after the Associated Press updated its stylebook, encouraging journalists to “avoid references to being born a boy or girl” when writing about a transgender person, the Merriam-Webster dictionary is legitimizing phrases added to the American lexicon in recent years by those in the LGBTQ community. In April, the company announced it had added “new words from science and medicine,” referring to the transgender terminology for which it now offers definitions. Among the phrases added were:
- “Top surgery,” which is defined as “a type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s breasts are removed or augmented to match their gender identity.”
- “Bottom surgery,” which is defined as “a type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s genitalia are altered to match their gender identity.”
- “Gender nonconforming,” which is defined as “exhibiting behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits that do not correspond with the traits typically associated with one’s sex.” CONTINUE
