T4C, sT4T and T4M
Codes built like t4t: trans for cis, straight t4t, and trans for men.
T4T, trans for trans, is the best known of a family of codes that follow the old personals format: who you are, then 4 for for, then who you are looking for. Wiktionary dates T4T's popularity to the Craigslist personals of the early 2000s, and the format itself was already standard there. A 2005 Craigslist guide to personals acronyms explains m4w as man for woman, and notes that a t in a code could stand for several different trans and cross-dressing identities.
T4C means trans for cis, and is also written TLC, trans loving cis. The LGBTQIA+ Wiki describes it as a term for trans people who emphasise or prioritise their attraction to, and relationships with, cis people. The reasons it lists include dysphoria stirred up by being with other trans people, simply being around more cis people, feeling affirmed by cis partners, and wanting to celebrate trans and cis people in love. T4C can also describe the relationship itself, so a trans man and a cis woman who are dating may call theirs a T4C relationship. The wiki traces the phrase trans loving cis to at least June 2017, with no known coiner.
One detail is genuinely muddled. Cis people in T4C relationships have sometimes been called trans-loving cis as well, which breaks the usual rule that a code starts with the person it describes. The versions that follow the rule, for the cis partner, are CLT, cis loving trans, and C4T, cis for trans.
sT4T, also written ST4T, is straight t4t. Wiktionary defines it as relating to heterosexual relationships between trans people, and the LGBTQIA+ Wiki as trans people whose relationships are with trans people of a different gender from their own. Usually that means a transmasc person with a transfem partner, or the reverse, but the wiki notes that a nonbinary person may use it too if straight describes them. A flag for it was designed in January 2025.
The same grammar produces more precise versions, and community flags exist for several of them: TW4TW and TM4TM, trans women for trans women and trans men for trans men, and the mixed TM4TW and TW4TM. T4T bi describes a trans person attracted to more than one gender who is drawn mainly or only to other trans people of those genders.
T4M is the plainest of the set: a trans person looking for men. It appears in dating-site glossaries of personal ad shorthand, and its reverse, M4T, a man looking for a trans person, is already in the 2005 Craigslist list. The documentation for T4M is thin, and the code says nothing about which men, or which trans person. When a cis man is interested in trans women purely as a category, the word trans people use is chaser.
Other codes built the same way turn up in bios and ads, but we could not find a reliable record of what most of them mean, so they are not listed here. When a code is unfamiliar, the person using it is the best source on what they meant.
T4C is not the opposite of T4T
Because T4T is often explained as a preference for trans partners, T4C gets read as its reverse: a trans person who wants nothing to do with other trans people, or looks down on them. The definitions in use describe where someone's attraction and relationships tend to go, not a rejection, and the reasons given are ordinary ones.
The codes also do not work backwards. In T4T and T4C the T is normally the person speaking, so a cis person writing either one is borrowing a code that describes someone else. The cis side of the format is C4T or CLT.
Saying it well
Say this
- T4C, and happily so.
- sT4T: trans guy looking for a trans woman.
- T4T bi, if you want the precise version.
- T4M, looking for men.
Not this
- T4C, so you must hate being trans
- sT4T, so not really queer
- Writing T4T or T4C as a cis person
- Assuming T4M tells you what kind of man
Questions people actually ask
What does T4C mean?
Trans for cis, also written TLC, trans loving cis: a trans person who emphasises or prioritises attraction to, and relationships with, cis people.
What does sT4T mean?
Straight t4t: a relationship between trans people of different genders, usually a transmasc person and a transfem person. Nonbinary people use it too when straight describes them.
What does T4M mean?
A trans person looking for men. It comes from personal ad shorthand and is thinly documented; it does not specify which men.
Is T4C the opposite of T4T?
Not in the sense of a rejection. It describes where someone's attraction and relationships tend to go, and the reasons given range from dysphoria to who someone happens to meet.
Where do codes like T4T and T4C come from?
From the personals format in which m4w meant man for woman. T4T was popularised in the Craigslist personals of the early 2000s, and the other codes reuse its grammar.