An individual's internal sense of being male, female, both, neither, or another gender entirely. This psychological sense of self typically develops by age 3-4 and may or may not align with biological sex assigned at birth.
The term emerged in the 1960s, combining 'gender' from Latin 'genus' (kind, type) and 'identity' from Latin 'identitas' (sameness). Psychologist John Money helped distinguish gender (psychological/social) from sex (biological), leading to the concept of gender identity as separate from physical characteristics.
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