1.Introduction 2. Gender in the Hindi language system 2.1 Grammatical gender: Assignment and agreement 2.2 Generic masculines 2.3 Gender reversal: Terms of endearment and insult 3. Uses of the gender system by Hindi-speaking hijras 3.1 Language in hijra socialization 3.2 The exploitation of grammatical gender in everyday hijra conversation 3.3 The use of masculine self-reference 4. Conclusions Appendix Notes References