en femme

Borrowed from French en femme (“as a woman”) as in s’habille en femme (“dresses as a woman”), from en (“as”) + femme (“woman”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒn ˈfɑm/, (reproducing the French pronunciation) /ɑ̃-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑn ˈfɑm/, /-ˈfɛm/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑm, (one GA pronunciation) -ɛm

en femme (not comparable) (LGBTQ)

1. Chiefly of a cross-dressing, non-binary, or trans person: dressed in feminine clothing.

   Coordinate term: en homme

   • 1995 fall, Samantha Cole, “Mailbag: A Fortunate, Married Crossdresser”, in TV/TS Tapestry Journal: For All Persons Interested in Crossdressing & Transsexualism, number 73, Waltham, Mass.: International Foundation for Gender Education, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21, column 1:

     I am convinced that the tendency or at least the desire to cross dress, is many times more common than the most, liberal statistics I have read. While enfemme, I have had far too many straight men whisper to me they have thought about it and wish they had the opportunity and courage to act on it as I have for about 36 years.

   • 1998, Sandra S. Cole, “The Female Experience of the Femme: A Transgender Challenge”, in Dallas Denny, editor, Current Concepts in Transgender Identity (Garland Gay and Lesbian Studies; 11; Garland Reference Library of Social Science; 976), New York, N.Y.; London: Garland Publishing, →ISBN, part II (Research and Treatment Issues), page 376:

     If the female discovers her partner's transgendered persona herself or is told by a person other than her partner, the situation is usually quite different. She may overhear a conversation, see a photograph of him en femme, watch a television talk show on which her partner appears cross-dressed, or see her partner referenced in a newspaper or magazine article. […] This manner of discovery commonly increases her experience of betrayal and generates tremendous feelings of humiliation, prejudice, and revulsion.

   • 2002, Christopher McKee, “A Sailor’s Paradise”, in Sober Men and True: Sailor Lives in the Royal Navy 1900–1945, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 203:

     But it is at least possible that repeated exposure to attractive men en femme may have conditioned some—many?—sailors to tolerate (or even enjoy) the idea of sex with another man and tempted certain of the cross-dressers themselves to think about crossing sex roles as well.

2. Of a situation: suitable for a cross-dressing, non-binary, or trans person to dress in feminine clothing.
   • 1984, Carol Beecroft, “Editors Choice”, in Carol Beecroft, editor, Transvestia: For the Heterosexual Crossdresser, Tulare, Calif.: Chevalier Publications, →OCLC, page 4, column 3:

     These Holidays En Femme are for members of Tri-Ess and we welcome prospective members, heterosexual crossdressers, to join with us in our educational and social programs.

• enfemme (dated)

• femme

en femme (not comparable)

2. (LGBTQ) Of a cross-dressing, non-binary, or trans person: while dressed in feminine clothing.

   Coordinate term: en homme

   • 1997 winter, Jane Ellen Fairfax, “Chapter News Update: Dateline: New York, New York”, in Femme Mirror‎^[1], volume 22, number 1, Houston, Tex.: The Society for the Second Self, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 June 2025, page 20, column 1:

     G., a crossdresser, lived on the second floor of the hotel at which she worked. Not wanting to walk through the lobby enfemme, she climbed the fire escape. Her heels got stuck in the catwalk and the police had to rescue her.

     In the PDF, page 20 appears out of order after page 18.

   • 2002, Veronica Vera, “Introduction: Student Orientation”, in Miss Vera’s Cross-dress for Success: A Resource Guide for Boys who Want to be Girls, New York, N.Y.: Villard, →ISBN, page xiv:

     They spend anywhere from a couple of hours with us to a couple of days, immersed in classes with a faculty of deans who teach the students individually how to do their own makeup, walk in heels, go out and about town en femme, probe their erotic yearnings, network with others, and in general share and appreciate this part of themselves that has inspired them to dress in female clothing (usually in secret) since they were children.

   • 2002 July, Jane E. Hegland, Nancy J. Nelson, “Cross-Dressers in Cyber-space: Exploring the Internet as a Tool for Expressing Gendered Identity”, in International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, volume 7, numbers 2–3, New York, N.Y.: Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 139–161:

     Most of them also "love to shop"—especially en femme […]

   • 2011, Genny Beemyn, Susan Rankin, “Experiences of Transgender Identity”, in The Lives of Transgender People, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 69:

     Some wives sought limits on their spouses' cross-dressing as a condition for remaining in the marriage. A common stipulation was that the cross-dressers not do so in front of the spouse and/or the children. Other cross-dressing interviewees were permitted to present en femme inside their homes or out of town but had agreed to restrict their public cross-dressing locally in order to minimize the possibility of disclosure.

   • 2021 November, Zoë Playdon, “A Death in the Family”, in The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, part 2, page 102:

     [John] Randell was himself a highly secretive cross-dresser, keeping a flat near Charing Cross Hospital to which he would invite selected clinical colleagues and junior doctors, to serve them cocktails while dressed en femme.

   • 2023 June 1, Kirstin Butler, “American Experience: We Were Never Meant to See this Photograph”, in GBH, PBS‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 December 2024:

     Under Susanna [Valenti] and Marie's stewardship, the slightly run-down, three-story house in the Catskill Mountains became a unique kind of bed and breakfast. Casa Susanna offered makeup, hair, wardrobe and comportment tutorials and 150 acres on which guests could roam freely "en femme," as they called it. For many of the visitors, it was the first time they had ever been able to become these versions of themselves around others.

• enfemme (dated)

• cross-dressing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia