boy

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

boy (disambiguation)

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English boy, boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“boy”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōjō, from Proto-Germanic *bōjô (“younger brother, young male relation”), from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt- (“father, elder brother, brother”).

Cognate with Scots boy (“boy”), West Frisian boai (“boy”), Dutch boi (“boy”), Low German Boi (“boy”), and probably to the Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe (“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa (“brother”), Dutch boef (“rogue, knave”), Bavarian Bua (“young boy, lad”), German Bube ("boy; knave; jack"; > English bub), Icelandic bófi (“rogue, crook, bandit, knave”). See also bully.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: boi, IPA^(key): /bɔɪ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• (Southern American English) IPA^(key): /bɔːə/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Noun

boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys)

1. A young male human.

   Kate is dating a boy named Jim.

   • 1440, Promptorium Parvulorum, section 35:

     Bye or boye: Bostio.

   • 1535, Bible (Coverdale), Zechariah, Chapter VIII, Verse 5:

     The stretes of the citie shalbe full of yonge boyes and damselles...

   • 1711 March 7, Jonathan Swift, Journal, line 208:

     I find I was mistaken in the sex, 'tis a boy.

   • 1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold, Canto II, xxiii, 72:

     Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy?

   1. (particularly) A male child or adolescent, as distinguished from an infant or adult.
      • 1876, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, The Kiddle-a-Wink, "A Tale of Love", page 169:

        "He is not quite a baby, Alfred," said Ellen, "though he is only a big stupid boy. We have made him miserable enough. Let us leave him alone."

2. (diminutive) A son of any age.
   • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, , and A Constable and Co., , →OCLC:

     My only boy fell by the side of great Dundee.

3. (endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker.
4. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Dost thou call me fool, boy?

5. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly:
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, , →OCLC, part I, page 211:

     He allowed his ‘boy’ - an overfed young negro from the coast - to treat the white men, under his very eyes, with provoking insolence.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, i, 37:

     ‘Why does he go out and pinch all his dogs in person? He's an administrator, isn't he? Wouldn't he hire a boy or something?’
     ‘We call them “staff”,’ Roger replies.

   1. A younger such worker.
      • 1721, Penelope Aubin, The Life of Madam de Beaumount, ii, 36:

        I resolved to continue in the Cave, with my two Servants, my Maid, and a Boy, whom I had brought from France.

   2. (historical or offensive) A non-white male servant regardless of age, particularly as a form of address.
      • 1625, W. Hawkins in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. I, iii, vii, 211:

        My Boy Stephen Grauener.

      • 1834, Edward Markham, New Zealand or Recollections of It, section 72:

        They picked out two of the strongest of the Boys (as they call the Men) about the place.

      • 1876, Ebenezer Thorne, The Queen of the Colonies, or, Queensland as I Knew It‎, section 58:

        The blacks who work on a station or farm are always, like the blacks in the Southern States, called boys.

      • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 233:

        From a domestic point of view the advent of the Chinese was a decided blessing, for, instead of the European ladies of the settlement having to do all their own work, they were able to employ a proper staff of Chinese boys.

      • 1907 May 13, Evening Post, N.Y, section 6:

        [In Shanghai,] The register clerk assigns you to a room, and instead of ‘Front!’ he shouts ‘Boy!’

      • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 521:

        He thrust his head into the aisle. "Boy!" A Chinese in a white coat responded listlessly. "What will you have? Beer?"

      • 1960 February 5, Northern Territory News, 5/5:

        Aborigine Wally... described himself as ‘number one boy’ at the station.

   3. (obsolete) A male camp follower.
      • 1572, Flavius Vegetius Renatus, translated by John Sadler, Foure Bookes... Contayninge a Plaine Forme, and Perfect Knowledge of Martiall Policye..., iii, vii:

        If any water be rough and boysterous, or the chanell verye broade, it manye times drowneth the carriages and the boyes and nowe and then slouthfull and lyther souldiours.

      • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 1:

        Godes plud kil the boyes and the lugyge,
        Tis the arrants peece of knauery […]

6. (now offensive) Any non-white male, regardless of age.
   • 1812, Anne Plumptre translating Hinrich Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, Vol. I, i, viii, 119:

     A Hottentot... expects to be called by his name if addressed by any one who knows it; and by those to whom it is not known he expects to be called Hottentot... or boy.

   • 1888, Louis Diston Powles, Land of Pink Pearl, or Recollections of Life in the Bahamas, section 66:

     Every darky, however old, is a boy.

   • 1973 September 8, Black Panther, 7/2:

     [In Alabama,] Guards still use the term ‘boy’ to refer to Black prisoners.

   • 1979, Bert Newton, Mohammed Ali, The Logie Awards‎:

     BN: [repeating a catchphrase] I like the boy.
     MA: [to hostile audience] Hold it, hold it, hold it. Easy. Did you say ‘Roy’ or ‘boy’?
     BN: ‘I like the boy’. There's nothing wrong with saying that... Hang on, hang on, hang on... I'll change religion, I'll do anything for ya, I don't bloody care... What's wrong with saying that? ‘I like the boy’?
     MA: Boy...
     BN: I mean, I like the man. I'm sorry, Muhammad.

7. (informal, especially with a possessive) A male friend.
   • 1980, Paul Simon (lyrics and music), “Late in the Evening”, in One-Trick Pony:

     The next thing I remember, I am walking down the street / I'm feeling all right, I'm with my boys, I'm with my troops, yeah.

8. (BDSM) A male submissive.
9. A male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog.

   C'mere, boy! Good boy! Who's a good boy?

   Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?

10. (historical, military) A former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.
    • 1841 May 6, Times, London, 5/4:

      Wounded... 1 Boy, 1st class, severely.

    • 1963 April 30, Times, London, 16/2:

      He joined the Navy as a boy second class in 1898.

11. (US, slang, uncountable) Heroin.
    • 2021, Tim Weber, Heroin: the Ripple Effect:

      […] drove by a corner, saw what I thought—no, what I knew—were dealers and asked if they knew where I could get some boy.

12. (somewhat childish) A male (tree, gene, etc).
    • 1950, Pageant:

      Are there “boy” trees and “girl” trees? Yes. A number of species, among them the yew, holly and date-bearing palm, have their male and female flowers on different trees. The male holly, for instance, must be planted fairly close to the female ...

    • 1970 , Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult (→ISBN):

      Of the 100 percent total, 25 will have two girl genes, 50 will have one boy and one girl gene, and 25 will have two boy genes.

Alternative forms

• boi

Synonyms

• (young male): See Thesaurus:boy
• (diminutive term of address to males): chap, guy, lad, mate
• (son): See son
• (male servant): manservant
• (disreputable man): brat, knave, squirt
• (heroin): See Thesaurus:heroin

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "young male"): See Thesaurus:girl

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Interjection

boy

1. Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.

   Boy, that was close!

   Boy, that tastes good!

   Boy, I wish I could go to Canada!

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:

     Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.

Related terms

• oh boy

Translations

Verb

boy (third-person singular simple present boys, present participle boying, simple past and past participle boyed)

1. (transitive) To act as a boy (in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage).
   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.

Coordinate terms

• girl
• man

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• BYO, Y. O. B., Y.O.B., YOB, YoB, byo, oby, yob

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *bod (“body, stature; self; kin, tribe, etc”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boj/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

1. height, stature

   Boyum balacadır. ― I'm short. (literally, “My stature is little.”)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “boy” in Obastan.com.

Cebuano

Etymology

From English boy.

Noun

boy

1. houseboy, errand boy

Synonyms

• (errand boy): houseboy, muchacho, mutsatso

Chibcha

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /βoi/, /βoɨ/

Noun

boy

1. Alternative form of boi

References

• Gómez Aldana D. F., Análisis morfológico del Vocabulario 158 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia. Grupo de Investigación Muysccubun. 2013.

Chinese

Etymology

From English boy.

Pronunciation

Noun

boy

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) The name of the Latin-script letter B.
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) office boy

See also

• dog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English boy. Cognate with Middle Dutch boye (“young man, boy”), whence Dutch boi (“boy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔi̯/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: boy
• Rhymes: -ɔi̯

Noun

boy m (plural boys, diminutive boytje n)

1. (historical, now offensive) a male domestic servant, especially one with a darker skin in a colony
2. (informal) boy, young man

   Ik vind die Roy echt een rare boy. ― I think this Roy is really a strange young man.

Descendants

See also

• guy

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English boy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔj/

• Audio ("cow-boy")

  (file)

Noun

boy m (plural boys)

1. (now historical, offensive) boy (non-white male servant)
   • 1930, André Malraux, La Voie royale:

     Claude allait l’ouvrir mais le ton sur lequel le délégué appelait son boy lui fit lever la tête : l’auto attendait, bleue sous l’ampoule de la porte; le boy, qui s’était écarté – en voyant arriver le délégué sans doute – se rapprochait, hésitant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “boy”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from English boy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: boy
• Rhymes: -oj
• Homophone: boly

Noun

boy (plural boyok)

1. A young male servant, low-position assistant.
   1. bellboy (in a hotel)

      Synonym: londiner

   2. office boy, errand boy, deliveryman

      Synonyms: kifutófiú, kézbesítő

2. (dated) A male ballet dancer.

Declension

Derived terms

See also

• görl

Further reading

• boy in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Italian

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism. In the sense "bellboy", a clipping of English bellboy; in other meanings, a transferred sense of English boy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔj/
• Rhymes: -ɔj
• Hyphenation: bòy

Noun

boy m (plural boys)

1. a male ballet dancer
2. bellboy (in a hotel)

References

Further reading

• boy in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Ladino

Etymology

From Turkish boy (“stature, size”).

Noun

boy m (Latin spelling)

1. size
2. age

Middle English

Noun

boy (plural boys)

1. Alternative spelling of boye

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

boy

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔj/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔj
• Syllabification: boy
• Homophone: boj

Noun

boy m pers

1. bellboy, office boy

   Synonym: garson

Declension

Further reading

• boy in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• boy in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Ellipsis of office boy, from English office boy.

Alternative forms

• bói

Pronunciation

Noun

boy m (plural boys)

1. office boy
2. (Brazil, slang) a young, upper-class male

Synonyms

• (office boy): office boy
• (rich young man): mauricinho

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

boy m (plural boys)

1. Obsolete spelling of boi

Salar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *bȫg.

Pronunciation

• (Jiezi, Gaizi, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key): ,
• (Xunhua, Hualong, Qinghai, Yining, Xinjiang) IPA^(key): /poj/

Noun

boy

1. spider