The Meaning of MTF: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of MTF? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the abbreviation MTF, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the abbreviation MTF stand for?

According to Merriam-Webster, Urban Dictionary, and Cyber Definitions, the abbreviation MTF is shorthand for male to female. This term is often used to describe a transgender woman. Often, trans women are people who have transitioned from the male gender to the female gender, hence, “male to female.” This term is often used in medical contexts when it is necessary to know a patient’s assigned gender at birth for specific medical purposes. It is often inappropriate to refer to a trans person as such in everyday speech. A doctor might also use the term AMAB to refer to a trans woman, which stands for assigned male at birth. This term is also not appropriate to call someone outside of a medical context as it can make someone feel gender dysphoria or discomfort. One should always simply refer to a person by their preferred pronouns. The easiest way to determine someone’s preferred pronouns is simply by asking them. People will not take offense to this, and they will be happy that you asked. One easy way to bring this up is to state your own pronouns when introducing yourself. 

The reverse of this term is FTM, which stands for female to male. This term, along with AFAB which stands for assigned female at birth, are used in reference to trans men in a medical context. Transgender people are a part of the LGBT community, which is an umbrella term. Some trans people may choose to go on hormones such as testosterone or estrogen and go on hormone blockers to decrease the level of the unwanted hormone in their bodies. Some people in the trans community, including those who are genderqueer, genderfluid, or nonbinary, may also opt to have surgeries such as top surgery, which removes the breasts or breast tissue, or bottom surgery which can turn a penis into a vagina or vice versa. If someone is FTM, they might also opt to have their reproductive organs removed to get rid of menstrual cycles. The opposite of transgender is cisgender, in which a perosn’s gender identity matches that which was assigned at birth.

According to The Free Dictionary, the abbreviation and slang term MTF can stand for much more than just male to female. This acronym has a plethora of other alternate definitions. While these definitions are still accurate, they are less common, and should therefore be used sparingly to eliminate confusion. If you do decide to use one of these alternate definitions, make sure that you provide the reader or listener with the proper context so that they can infer your intended meaning. When in doubt, use the full form of the simple terms.

  •  Move to Front (coding)
  •  Mobile to Fixed
  •  Mechanical Timed Fuse
  •  My Tractor Forum
  •  Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation
  •  Mississippi Test Facility
  •  Multiple True-False (examinations and assessments)
  •  Month(s) to Failure
  •  Mtarfa (postal locality, Malta)
  •  Military Training Flight
  •  Make Trade Fair (campaign)
  •  Microwave Test Facility
  •  Mercury Task Force (Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers)
  •  Manitoba Tenpin Federation (Canada)
  •  Meet the Faith (TV show)
  •  Multiple Time Frame (trading)
  •  Malawi Traditional Fisheries
  •  Mobile Task Force (various locations)
  •  Market Transition Facility (replaced new Jersey Joint Underwriters Association)
  •  More to Follow
  •  Military Treatment Facility
  •  Maintenance Test Flight
  •  Magnetic Tape File
  •  More than Friends
  •  Manual Transmission Fluid
  •  Meet the Fockers (movie)
  •  Mean Time to Failure
  •  Monitoring the Future (study/survey)
  •  Mark Taper Forum (Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
  •  Microsoft Tape Format
  •  Mobile Training Facility
  •  Memorandum-To-File
  •  Mib Translation File
  •  Maintain the Focus
  •  Multiple Tree Forest (Windows 2000 Active Directory)
  •  Message Transfer Format
  •  Medical Treatment Facility
  •  McCormick Tribune Fellowship (Media Management Center Northwestern University; Illinois)
  •  Muskegon Temporary Facility (Michigan Department of Corrections)
  •  Manual Test Facility
  •  Mega Team Fortress (Quake 1)
  •  MensTennisForums (website)
  •  Maintenance Team Foreman
  •  Machine Tool Wire
  •  Magnetized Target Fusion
  •  Maintenance Training Flight (US DoD)
  •  Message Text Format
  •  Manning Task Force (DCSPER Army)
  •  Master Test Frame
  •  Magnet Test Facility
  •  Move to Front
  •  Modulation Transfer Function – According to Shutter Muse, this is a a chart that displays the potential optical performance and characteristics of lenses across their aperture range. It is a measurement of monitor sharpness that compares line pairs of black and green lines through a lens to adjust their contract ratio and spatial frequency. Optics systems use this image plane and its components to adjust image quality.
  •  Meteorological Task Force
  •  Maintenance Test Facility
  •  Medicinsk Teknik Och Fysik (Sweden)
  •  Mobile Termination Function
  •  Mission Task Folder
  •  Matrix Test Facility
  •  Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation
  •  Multilateral Trading Facilities – According to Investopedia, these alternative internal systems and venues provide retail investors and investment firms with an alternative to traditional exchanges, and the facilities are electronic systems that market operators or larger investment banks control. Traders submit orders electronically and a software engine matches the buyers with the brokers for the exchange of financial instruments. Incentives include transaction speeds, fewer restrictions, lower costs and trading incentives for the participants and their exotic assets. These can relate to products such as:
    •  forex (FX) derivatives
    •  cash bonds
    •  equity derivatives
    •  credit default swaps (CDS)
    •  repos
    •  exchange-traded funds (ETF)
    •  interest rate securities (IRS)
  •  Modulator Transfer Function

Overall, the acronym MTF Most frequently stands for male to female. This term is usually used in a medical setting to refer to a trans woman who may need to be notated by her assigned gender at birth for medical purposes. You should not refer to a trans woman as MTF unless medically necessary, because this can be considered offensive. 

Sources:

  1. Mtf | Definition of Mtf | Merriam-Webster
  2. Mtf | Urban Dictionary 
  3. MTF | What Does MTF Mean?
  4. MTF – What does MTF stand for? | The Free Dictionary  
  5. Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) Definition | Investopedia 
  6. How To Read An MTF Chart | Shutter Muse