The controversial acronym “Terf”, which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as part of its June 2022 update. It is one of several new words that are related to our changing understanding of gender and sexuality, along with “multisexual”, “pangender”, “gender expression”, “gender presentation” and “enby” (derived from “NB”, meaning “non-binary”).
This grouping was not a conscious decision by the OED team, Fiona McPherson, a lexicographer at the dictionary, told the New Statesman. Rather, they are terms whose usage among English speakers has grown organically.
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