8
The term "Two Spirit" itself is a rather modern invention (more on that later), since originally every American Indian tribe had their own word or words for them in their own language. The Navaho called them "nàdleehé," meaning "the one who is transformed;" the Lakota referred to them as "winkte," someone who "wishes to be (like) a woman" (or a man in the case of a female-bodied person);" other tribes used terms meaning "man-woman," "part-woman," or "two-souls person" (The Two Spirited Tradition). Before the 1990s, anthropologists mostly referred to them as berdache. However, today this term is considered outdated and rather offensive, since it is a derivative of the Persian word "barah," which refers to male prostitutes; also, since its use was first enforced by European colonists (Alaers).
Two Spirit people were once recognized as gifted members of their tribal communities "because they carried two spirits, that of male and female" (The Way of the Two Spirited People).