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boyish. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
boyish, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
boyish in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
boyish you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From boy + -ish.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɔɪ.ɪʃ/
- Hyphenation: boy‧ish
Adjective
boyish (comparative more boyish, superlative most boyish)
- Like a stereotypical boy in appearance or demeanor.
People disliked his boyish and juvenile behaviour. Her boyish figure belied her femininity.
1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Emma: , volume III, London: for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 279–280:He did so, but very soon stopt again to say, “the piano-forte! Ah! That was the act of a very, very young man, one too young to consider whether the inconvenience of it might not very much exceed the pleasure. A boyish scheme, indeed!—I cannot comprehend a man’s wishing to give a woman any proof of affection which he knows she would rather dispense with; and he did know that she would have prevented the instrument’s coming if she could.”
1855, Frederick Douglass, “The Author’s Childhood”, in My Bondage and My Freedom. , New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan , →OCLC, part I (Life as a Slave), page 41:He is never expected to act like a nice little gentleman, for he is only a rude little slave. Thus, freed from all restraint, the slave-boy can be, in his life and conduct, a genuine boy, doing whatever his boyish nature suggests; […]
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