MTF stands for "male to female." It's long-standing shorthand for a trans woman — someone who was assigned male at birth and is a woman.
That's the answer. The nuance below is worth knowing before you use the acronym about someone else.
The short version
- MTF — shorthand for a trans woman. Very widely searched, and used by plenty of trans women about themselves.
- Trans woman — the plain-language term. Two words, never one. This is the safest thing to say.
- Transfem (transfeminine) — a broader term for people with a relationship to femininity, which includes some trans women and also some nonbinary people. Not a synonym for trans woman.
- Trans girl — casual and common, used the same way "girl" is for anyone.
Why some people avoid "MTF"
The acronym frames a person as going "from" one thing "to" another, which implies a trans woman used to be a man. Most trans women would say they were always women — what changed was how they lived and how other people saw them.
So MTF is fine as a self-description, and it's how a lot of people search. But when describing someone else, "trans woman" can't land wrong. Follow the words each person uses for themselves.
MTF is a gender identity, not an orientation
Gender identity is who you are. Sexual orientation is who you're attracted to. They're separate, and one tells you nothing about the other.
A trans woman can be straight, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer or asexual. A trans woman attracted to women is a lesbian. A trans woman attracted to men is straight. Being trans isn't an orientation and never has been.
What MTF doesn't tell you
It says nothing about anyone's medical history. Hormones and surgery are private, they vary enormously, and none of it determines whether someone is a woman. Sorting people by medical status — the surgical-status labels you see on other adult sites — is exactly the kind of categorizing we do not do here.
It also says nothing about how someone looks, sounds or dresses. There's no single way to be a trans woman.
Terms to skip
Some older words for trans women are still common in adult search, and you won't find any of them on this site. They were coined to describe trans women as a category of body rather than as people, and the industry itself has been moving away from them for years — major trans studios dropped them deliberately, knowing it cost search traffic.
If you're wondering what to say instead: trans woman, trans girl, or just her name.
Related terms
- FTM — the mirror shorthand, for a trans man. Same caveats apply.
- Nonbinary / enby — someone whose gender isn't simply "man" or "woman."
- T4T — "trans for trans," a trans person who connects with other trans people.
- Cis / cisgender — someone who isn't trans. A neutral descriptor.
MTF creators on OnlyFans
Our trans women hub lists creators who describe themselves as a trans woman, trans girl, transfem or MTF on their own profile. Nobody is placed there based on how they look — if a profile doesn't say it, that creator isn't in the hub, which means the list is shorter and correct rather than longer and wrong.
Every creator listed can correct their labels or be removed within 24 hours, no questions asked.
You can also browse trans men, nonbinary creators, or everyone with a free page.