passing

adjective for a trans person who looks like they're cis, whether intentionally or not usage mostly limited to where trans people are functioning within cis society, where everyone is assumed cis until informed otherwise — a person "passes" for cis until clocked. within trans circles, passing is irrelevant and a rarely used term, because everyone is assumed to be trans. adopted from an older use of passing, meaning african-americans who move within white society in order to survive. sometimes disambiguated as white-passing and cis-passing. a less appropriative & more accurate term for trans "passing" is masking.