AMAB

AMAB stands for “assigned male at birth,” DMAB for “designated male at birth,” and MAAB for “male assigned at birth.” All three abbreviations refer to a person having been assigned male at or shortly after birth, usually based on externally visible sex characteristics and often recorded in official documents.

The term is used especially in trans, intersex, and non-binary contexts to distinguish between an assignment made at birth and a person’s actual gender identity. A person who is AMAB may be a man, a woman, non-binary, intersex, trans, or cis; AMAB does not automatically describe a person’s identity, body, hormones, genitals, or lived gender role.

Some intersex people also use AMAB to make visible the often medical, legal, or social process of sex or gender assignment, even if they understand themselves as male. The term should be used respectfully and only when relevant to the context, because someone’s assigned category at birth can be personal and sensitive information.