The term transgender may be defined very broadly to include cross-dressers. Other definitions of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender, or else conceptualize transgender people as a third gender.
Transgender, often shortened as trans, is also an umbrella term in addition to including people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex ( trans men and trans women), it may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth.