Transracial is a label used by people who identify as a different race than the one they were born into. They may adjust their appearance to make themselves look more like that race, and may participate in activities associated with that race.
Historically, the term transracial was used solely to describe parents who adopt a child of a different race.
The use of the term to describe changing racial identity has been criticized by members of the transracial adoption community. Kevin H. Vollmers, executive director of an adoption non-profit, said the term is being "appropriated and co-opted", and that this is a "slap in the face" to transracial adoptees. In June 2015, about two dozen transracial adoptees, transracial parents and academics published an open letter in which they condemned the new usage as "erroneous, ahistorical, and dangerous".
In April 2017, the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia published an academic paper in support of recognizing transracialism and drawing parallels between transracial and transgender identity. Publication of this paper resulted in considerable controversy. The subject was also explored in ', a 2016 book by UCLA sociology professor Rogers Brubaker, who argues that the phenomenon, though offensive to many, is psychologically real to many people, and has many examples throughout history. Transracialism has also been defended by the philosopher Andy Lamey, who argued in a 2025 article that accepting transracialism does not entail accepting "trans-speciesism" and other absurd outcomes suggested by critics.
In 2023, a TikTok trend known as "race change to another" (abbreviated as RCTA) emerged on the platform in where users attempted to transition into a different race from the one they were born into. The majority of RCTA featured users changing their race to mainly Korean or Japanese due to their love of entertainment originating from said cultures. The trend has been met with controversy, as satire videos have been created challenging genuine RCTA users.