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Alternative forms[edit]

  • ṫwini·qs[1]
  • twǃǐnnă´ĕk[2]
  • tuiniχátko[3]
  • t'i-t'on:q-atk[4]



  1. a two-spirit (of either sex); a transgender or third-gender person (of any sexual orientation)


  1. ^ Handbook of North American Indians, volume 12 (1983): Somewhat outside the pale of respectable Klamath society (Modocs deny having had them at all) was the berdache {ṫwini·qs) of either sex. Berdaches usually took the role after puberty, wearing women's garb, taking a spouse, and performing work appropriate to the opposite sex.
  2. ^ Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures
  3. ^ Albert Samuel Gatschet, Dictionary of the Klamath Language (1890)
  4. ^ Barker (1963)
  • The Phonology of Campidanian Sardinian (sic, mentions this word in a discussion of known onset reduplication phenomena)
  • Culture and human sexuality: a reader (1993), page 381: "Spier (1930:50-53) described a bisexual female Klamath berdache."