A ladyboy is a person born male who lives or presents as a woman. It's the English word for what Thais call kathoey. Her body varies: many ladyboys take hormones, and far fewer have surgery. Wanting to date a ladyboy, or not, is a preference, and neither is wrong.
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What is a ladyboy?
A ladyboy is a Thai trans woman: someone born male who lives as a woman in daily life, not just on stage. That’s the whole ladyboy meaning. The word tells you how she lives, not what her body is like.
The word has caught on across Southeast Asia as the everyday English for kathoey.1 Kathoey (กะเทย), said roughly “ka-toey”, is wider than ladyboy: researchers who interviewed Thai trans women found it covers women who have had hormones or surgery, people who dress as women only some of the time, and some who live as effeminate men,2 and in everyday Thai it can mean a gay man too.3 The politer word is sao praphet song (สาวประเภทสอง), what people who aren’t kathoey tend to say when they want to be polite,4 and the formal modern term is phu ying kham phet (ผู้หญิงข้ามเพศ).1 The table sorts them out.
The words you’ll meet on profiles and in conversation:
| Word | Where it’s used | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Ladyboy | English, about Thailand and Southeast Asia | A person born male who lives or presents as a woman. Fine said plainly; an insult as a punchline. |
| Kathoey (กะเทย) | Everyday Thai | Broader: trans women, people who dress as women some of the time, and sometimes ga |