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two-spirit

adj
/tuːˈspɪɹɪt/UK/tuˈspɪɹɪt/US

Etymology

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. The adjective is derived from the noun.

  1. derived from niizh manidoowag — “two spirits”

Definitions

  1. Involving two spirits

    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.

    • 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.

  2. A Native North American bisexual, homosexual, or gender-variant person

    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.

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

  3. Of, pertaining to, or being a two-spirit (noun sense).

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

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for two-spirit. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA