two-spirit

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tuːˈspɪɹɪt/, /ˈtuːˌspɪɹɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /tuˈspɪɹɪt/, /ˈtuˌspɪɹɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪɹɪt (one pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: two-spir‧it

From two +‎ spirit.

two-spirit (not comparable)

1. (theology) Involving two spirits; especially, pertaining to the doctrine of dualism espoused in the so-called Treatise on the Two Spirits in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
   • 1957, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press [for the Harvard Divinity School], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 133:

     Paul's grasp of the [Holy] Spirit as the sign of the erupting messianic age is at odds with the two-spirit thought of Qumran which never became incompatible with law observance.

The noun is derived from two +‎ spirit, coined in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, based on Ojibwe niizh manidoowag (“two spirits”) (coined at the same conference), from niizh (“two”) + manidoo (“spirit”) + -wag (suffix denoting the third-person plural of an animate noun); the term was created to replace berdache in anthropological literature which was considered offensive.^[1][2]

The adjective is derived from the noun.

two-spirit (plural two-spirits)

1. (chiefly Canada, US) A Native North American bisexual, homosexual, or gender-variant person; especially one belonging to a traditional tribal third-gender, fourth-gender, or transgender cultural category that has a ceremonial role. [from 1990]

   Synonyms: 2, 2S, (dated, offensive) berdache, (dated, offensive) hermaphrodite

   • 2006, Walter L[ee] Williams, Toby Johnson, “About the Historical Accuracy of this Novel”, in Two Spirits: A Story of Life with the Navajo, Maple Shade, N.J.: Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 322:

     The Lakota, by the way, called their Two-Spirits winkte and wapetokeca which means "people with special powers."

   • 2006 October 8, John Leland, “A spirit of belonging, inside and out”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 December 2024:

     "The elders will tell you the difference between a gay Indian and a Two-Spirit," he [Joey Criddle] said, underscoring the idea that simply being gay and Indian does not make someone a Two-Spirit.

   • c. 2013, Harlan Pruden, Se-ah-dom Edmo, “Two-spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America”, in ESIT Weekly‎^[2], [Olympia, Wash.]: Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families, published 18 March 2022, archived from the original on 29 March 2025, page [2]:

     The term/identity of two-spirit does not make sense unless it is contextualized within a Native American frame […] Today, most people associate the term with LGBT Natives; however, the work of the two-spirit organizations is more akin with the traditional understanding

Some people criticize the use of the term because it is based on a Western idea that gender, sex, and sexuality are binaries between male and female, and implies that a two-spirit individual has these male and female spirits intertwined within them. It does not reflect traditional understandings of gender variance among Native Americans or First Nations. On the other hand, two-spirit can be seen “as an umbrella term referencing multiple genders, sexes, and sexualities, as well as a self-identity label used by Native American/First Nations people as a way of reconnecting their gender and sexual variance with Native culture and religion/spirituality”.^[1]

• two spirit

• 2
• 2S
• two-spirited

• acault
• berdachism (archaic, now considered offensive)
• sworn virgin

two-spirit (not comparable)

1. (chiefly Canada, US) Of, pertaining to, or being a two-spirit (noun sense).

   Synonym: two-spirited

   • 1996, Walter L[ee] Williams, “Two-spirit Persons: Gender Nonconformity among Native American and Native Hawaiian Youths”, in Ritch C. Savin-Williams, Kenneth M. Cohen, editors, The Lives of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: Children to Adults, Fort Worth, Tex.; Philadelphia, Pa.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, →ISBN, part 4 (Cultural and Mental Health Issues), page 421:

     A Hupa two-spirit male told me: / I was real feminine as a child, from as early as I can remember. […] Within the family, Indians believe you can be whatever you choose.

     The word berdache was used in the first version of the work, “Family Matters: The Economic and Social Position of the Berdache” in Williams’ The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture (1986), page 50.

   • 1997, Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, Sabine Lang, “Introduction”, in Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, Sabine Lang, editors, Two-spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality, Urbana; Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 4:

     [I]t should come as no surprise that many Native American gay, lesbian, transgender, and other two-spirit people consider the term "berdache" derogatory.

   • 1997, Ron Rowell, “Developing AIDS Services for Native Americans: Rural and Urban Contrasts”, in Lester B. Brown, editor, Two Spirit People: American Indian, Lesbian Women and Gay Men, Binghamton, N.Y.; London: Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 88:

     In Canada there are now aboriginal (as we are termed in Canadian English) AIDS projects in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia, due almost entirely to the efforts of two-spirit (gay/lesbian) people.

   • 2010 October 11, Walter L[ee] Williams, “The ‘two-spirit’ people of indigenous North Americans”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 March 2025:

     Instead of seeing two-spirit persons as transsexuals who try to make themselves into "the opposite sex", it is more accurate to understand them as individuals who take on a gender status that is different from both men and women. […] Two-spirit people were respected by native societies not only due to religious attitudes, but also because of practical concerns. […] Two-spirit persons assisted their siblings' children and took care of elderly relatives, and often served as adoptive parents for homeless children.

• two-spirit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “two-spirited, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025.