Overview
What thirunangai means.
Thirunangai is Tamil. Thiru is the honorific — the respected, the Sri or Ms in front of a name — and nangai is woman. Put together: respected woman. It is the word Tamil trans women chose for themselves, and Wiktionary's entry records that it was coined in the 2000s by activists as a modern and authentically Tamil identity, set against hijra.
It has siblings. Thirunambi, respected man, for trans men; thirunar, respected person, for anyone. The state took the words up: The News Minute reported that the Tamil Nadu government introduced thirunangai officially in 2006, as suggested by the community. When the same government began replacing it with "third gender" in official documents — The News Minute reported the change in November 2019 — activists objected publicly, saying it stripped the community of a name it had chosen and treated them as other.
What it is not: a synonym for the English "transgender", and not a word for outsiders to adopt. It is a Tamil word for Tamil people, with a specific fight behind it. If you are a Tamil trans woman, it is probably already yours. If you are not, learn it so you can use it correctly about someone else.
The respectful Tamil word for a trans woman, coined in the community and adopted by Tamil Nadu's government in place of aravani.
Thirunangai in one line
Origin
Where the word comes from
Thirunangai was coined in the 2000s within Tamil Nadu's trans community, built from thiru, the Tamil honorific of respect, and nangai, woman, to make a word that was both dignified and unmistakably Tamil, in place of older terms that carried stigma and the pan-South Asian hijra, which activists felt did not represent a specifically Tamil identity. It was proposed by community activists rather than by one named individual on record.
The state adopted it quickly: the Tamil Nadu government introduced thirunangai into official use in 2006, at the community's own suggestion, including in the naming of a welfare board. That made Tamil Nadu one of the first Indian states to use a community-chosen, non-medicalised word in government policy — which is what made the later, unannounced shift toward "third gender" in official documents, reported in 2019, land as a loss rather than a mere rewording.
Signs people describe
Common experiences
None of these is a test. Most people recognise a few and shrug at the rest.
You crossed out aravani on a form and wrote thirunangai, and the clerk let it stand.
Your amma in the community uses the old word; you use the new one; you have both stopped correcting each other.
You have seen your word struck through in a government notice and replaced with "third gender", and felt it in your chest.
In English you say trans woman.
In Tamil you say thirunangai. They mean the same person and do not feel the same.
You know which word an NGO uses, which a police station uses and which your friends use, and you switch without thinking.
Someone outside Tamil Nadu asked whether you are hijra, and the answer was longer than they expected.
Pronouns
Pronouns
She/her in English. In Tamil the respectful forms do the work, and thirunangai is already a respectful noun — you do not need to add anything to it.
Consider another path
This might not be your word if…
- 1You are not Tamil. The word is a specific people's answer to a specific insult; it does not travel.
- 2You want a word for a trans man. That is thirunambi. For any trans person, thirunar.
- 3You are looking for the official category on a Tamil Nadu form. That may now read "third gender"; the community's word is still thirunangai.
Close by
Related identities
Aravani
The older Tamil word, tied to the god Aravan and the Koovagam festival. Same community; thirunangai was coined to replace it in public life. Aravani survives in the festival and in older mouths.
ReadHijra
The pan-South Asian community of houses and gurus. Thirunangai was chosen partly to stand apart from hijra, as a Tamil identity in its own right. Some thirunangais live in hijra-style houses; the word does not require it.
Read
Transgender Female
The English umbrella. Most thirunangais would accept trans woman in English; the Tamil word carries the local history and the fight for the name that the English one does not.
ReadThird gender
The government's replacement category. Activists say it flattens a chosen, respectful word into a bureaucratic one.
ReadKhwaja sira
Pakistan's respectful umbrella term, taken from a courtly title. A parallel move — a community choosing its own dignified word — in a different country and language.
ReadQuestions people ask
Frequently asked questions
What does thirunangai mean?+
Respected woman. Thiru is the honorific, nangai is woman, and Wiktionary records the compound as an activist coinage of the 2000s meant to be modern and authentically Tamil.
Is thirunangai the same as hijra?+
No. Hijra is a South Asian community structure with houses, gurus and ritual work. Thirunangai is a Tamil word for a trans woman, chosen partly to step away from hijra. A person can be both. Many are one and not the other.
Why did the Tamil Nadu government stop using it?+
In November 2019 The News Minute reported that official documents had begun replacing thirunangai with "third gender", and that the welfare board had been renamed to match. Activists called the change demeaning and said it took away a name they had chosen. Whatever the paperwork says, the community's word has not changed.
The flag
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Sources
- திருநங்கை — Wiktionary Fetched. Etymology (thiru + nangai), meaning trans woman, coined in the 2000s by activists as a modern and authentically Tamil identity in contrast to hijra; adopted by the Tamil Nadu government in place of aravani; the later switch to "third gender" and activists' objection.
- Hijra (South Asia) — Wikipedia Fetched. Records thirunangai ("respected woman"), thirunambi and thirunar as in-community terms that have supplanted the older Tamil words.
- Trans activists slam TN govt for dropping 'thirunangai' and using 'third gender' — The News Minute Fetched. November 2019 report: thirunangai introduced officially in 2006 as suggested by the community; replaced with "third gender" in official documents; welfare board renamed; activists' objections.
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