boy

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See also: Boy and bõy

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Painting of a boy (c. 1811)
Two Arab boys (c. 1910)

Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-West Germanic *bōjō
    Old English *bōia
    Middle English boye
    English boy

    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

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    Noun

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    boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys)

    2. A young male human. [from 15th c.]
      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 shal be 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, “A Tale of Love”, in The Kiddle-a-Wink‎[1], 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.
    3. (diminutive) A son of any age.
    4. (endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker. [from 17th c.]
    5. (informal, sometimes mildly derogatory) A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).
      • 1989 December 10, Tatiana Schreiber, Liz Galst, Emma Stonebridge, “Drawing The Line: Lesbian Sex And Art: What Do You Like, How Do You Decide?”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 9:
        It opened up a whole range [of feelings]. Some of them we were prepared for ― like for some women to feel some of the images were anti-feminist […] One woman wrote, "I can see the boys have taught you well." "Macho B.S.," someone else wrote.
      boys' club
    6. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave. [14th–17th c.]
    7. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, [from 14th c.] 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, [from 17th c.] 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[2], 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.
    8. (now offensive) Any non-white male, regardless of age. [from 19th c.]
      • 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[3]:
        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.
    9. (informal, especially with a possessive) A male friend.
    10. (BDSM) A male submissive.
    11. A male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog. [from 15th c.]
      C'mere, boy! Good boy! Who's a good boy?
      Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?
    12. (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.
    13. (US, slang, uncountable) Heroin. [from 20th c.]
      • 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.
    14. (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 [earlier 1963], 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

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    Synonyms

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    Antonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • Jamaican Creole: bwoy
    • Sranan Tongo: boi, boy
    • → Cebuano: boy
    • → Chinese: boy
    • → Dutch: boy
      • → Indonesian: boi
    • → French: boy
    • → German: Boy
    • → Hungarian: boy
    • → Iraqi Arabic: بوي
    • → Italian: boy
    • → Japanese: ボーイ (bōi)
    • → Polish: boy
    • → Russian: бой (boj)
    • → Spanish: boy
    • → Swahili: boi
    • → Tagalog: boy
    • → Vietnamese: bồi
    • → Welsh: boi

    Translations

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    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Interjection

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    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.
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    Translations

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    Verb

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    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).

    Coordinate terms

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    References

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

    Anagrams

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    Azerbaijani

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    Other scripts
    Cyrillic бој
    Abjad بوْی

    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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

    Noun

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    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. height, stature
      Boyum balacadır. ― I'm short. (literally, “My stature is little.”)
    Declension
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        Declension of boy
    singular plural
    nominative boy
    		 boylar
    definite accusative boyu
    		 boyları
    dative boya
    		 boylara
    locative boyda
    		 boylarda
    ablative boydan
    		 boylardan
    definite genitive boyun
    		 boyların
        Possessive forms of boy
    nominative
    singular plural
    mənim (“my”) boyum boylarım
    sənin (“your”) boyun boyların
    onun (“his/her/its”) boyu boyları
    bizim (“our”) boyumuz boylarımız
    sizin (“your”) boyunuz boylarınız
    onların (“their”) boyu or boyları boyları
    accusative
    singular plural
    mənim (“my”) boyumu boylarımı
    sənin (“your”) boyunu boylarını
    onun (“his/her/its”) boyunu boylarını
    bizim (“our”) boyumuzu boylarımızı
    sizin (“your”) boyunuzu boylarınızı
    onların (“their”) boyunu or boylarını boylarını
    dative
    singular plural
    mənim (“my”) boyuma boylarıma
    sənin (“your”) boyuna boylarına
    onun (“his/her/its”) boyuna boylarına
    bizim (“our”) boyumuza boylarımıza
    sizin (“your”) boyunuza boylarınıza
    onların (“their”) boyuna or boylarına boylarına
    locative
    singular plural
    mənim (“my”) boyumda boylarımda
    sənin (“your”) boyunda boylarında
    onun (“his/her/its”) boyunda boylarında
    bizim (“our”) boyumuzda boylarımızda
    sizin (“your”) boyunuzda boylarınızda
    onların (“their”) boyunda or boylarında boylarında
    ablative
    singular plural
    mənim (“my”) boyumdan boylarımdan
    sənin (“your”) boyundan boylarından
    onun (“his/her/its”) boyundan boylarından
    bizim (“our”) boyumuzdan boylarımızdan
    sizin (“your”) boyunuzdan boylarınızdan
    onların (“their”) boyundan or boylarından boylarından
    genitive
    singular plural
    mənim (“my”) boyumun boylarımın
    sənin (“your”) boyunun boylarının
    onun (“his/her/its”) boyunun boylarının
    bizim (“our”) boyumuzun boylarımızın
    sizin (“your”) boyunuzun boylarınızın
    onların (“their”) boyunun or boylarının boylarının
    Derived terms
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    Etymology 2

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    Interjection

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    boy

    1. Alternative form of bıy

    Further reading

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    • “boy” in Obastan.com.

    Cebuano

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    Etymology

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    From English boy.

    Noun

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    boy

    1. houseboy, errand boy
      Synonyms: houseboy, muchacho, mutsatso

    Chibcha

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy

    1. Alternative form of boi

    References

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

    Chinese

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    Etymology

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    From English boy.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy

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

    See also

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    Dutch

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    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy m (plural boys, diminutive boytje n)

    1. (historical, now offensive) a male domestic servant, especially one with a darker skin in a colony
      Synonym: djongos (Indonesia)
    2. (informal) boy, young man
      Ik vind die Roy echt een rare boy. ― I think this Roy is really a strange young man.

    Descendants

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    • → Indonesian: boi

    See also

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    French

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    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

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    Hungarian

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    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

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    Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
    singular plural
    nominative boy boyok
    accusative boyt boyokat
    dative boynak boyoknak
    instrumental boyjal boyokkal
    causal-final boyért boyokért
    translative boyjá boyokká
    terminative boyig boyokig
    essive-formal boyként boyokként
    essive-modal — —
    inessive boyban boyokban
    superessive boyon boyokon
    adessive boynál boyoknál
    illative boyba boyokba
    sublative boyra boyokra
    allative boyhoz boyokhoz
    elative boyból boyokból
    delative boyról boyokról
    ablative boytól boyoktól
    non-attributive
    possessive - singular         		boyé boyoké
    non-attributive
    possessive - plural         		boyéi boyokéi
    Possessive forms of boy
    possessor single possession multiple possessions
    1st person sing. boyom boyaim
    2nd person sing. boyod boyaid
    3rd person sing. boya boyai
    1st person plural boyunk boyaink
    2nd person plural boyotok boyaitok
    3rd person plural boyuk boyaik

    Derived terms

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    Compound words

    See also

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    Further reading

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

    Italian

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    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy m (plural boys)

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

    References

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    1. ^ boy in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

    Further reading

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

    Ladino

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    Etymology

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    From Turkish boy (“stature, size”).

    Noun

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    boy m (Latin spelling)

    1. size
    2. age

    Middle English

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    Noun

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    boy (plural boys)

    1. Alternative spelling of boye

    Polish

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    Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia pl
    boy

    Etymology

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    Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy m pers

    1. bellboy, office boy
      Synonym: garson

    Declension

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    Declension of boy
    singular plural
    nominative boy boye
    genitive boya boyów
    dative boyowi boyom
    accusative boya boyów
    instrumental boyem boyami
    locative boyu boyach
    vocative boyu boye

    Further reading

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

    Portuguese

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    Etymology 1

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    Ellipsis of office boy, from English office boy.

    Alternative forms

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy m (plural boys)

    1. office boy
      Synonym: office boy
    2. (Brazil, slang, sometimes derogatory) a young, upper-class man
      Synonyms: (Brazil) mauricinho, (Brazil) playboy
    3. (Brazil, slang) young man
      Me declarei pro boy. ― I declared [my love] for the guy.
    4. (Brazil, slang) boyfriend (male partner)
      Synonyms: namorado, (gay slang) bofe
      Estou com meu boy. ― I am together with my boyfriend.
    Derived terms
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    Etymology 2

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy m (plural boys)

    1. Obsolete spelling of boi.

    Further reading

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    Salar

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    Etymology

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    From Proto-Turkic *bȫg.

    Pronunciation

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    • (Jiezi, Gaizi, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA(key): [poiʲ], [pojɨ]
    • (Xunhua, Hualong, Qinghai, Yining, Xinjiang) IPA(key): /poj/

    Noun

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    boy

    1. spider

    References

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    • Potanin, G.N. (1893) “boy”, in Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголия (in Russian)
    • The template Template:R:slr:Kakuk does not use the parameter(s): 
      page=186
      Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.      Kakuk, S. (1962). “Un Vocabulaire Salar.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 14, no. 2: 173–96. [4]
    • Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “boy”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, pages 451-452
    • 林莲云 [Lin Lianyun] (1985) “boy”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar]‎[5], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, →OCLC, page 121
    • Ma, Chengjun, Han, Lianye, Ma, Weisheng (December 2010) “boy”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary] (in Chinese), 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 50
    • 马伟 (Ma Wei), 朝克 (Chao Ke) (2016) “boy”, in 濒危语言——撒拉语研究 [Endangered Languages ​​- Salar Language Studies], 青海 (Qinghai): 国家社会科学基金项目 (National Social Science Foundation Project), page 265

    Spanish

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    Etymology

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    Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈboi/ [ˈboi̯]
    • Rhymes: -oi
    • Syllabification: boy

    Noun

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    boy m (plural boys)

    1. a male stripper

    Further reading

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    Sranan Tongo

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    Noun

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    boy

    1. Alternative form of boi (official spelling)

    Tagalog

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    boy (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜌ᜔) (colloquial)

    1. boy (young male)
    2. errand boy; houseboy; boy doing a menial job (usually young)
      Synonyms: mutsatso, utusan

    Derived terms

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    See also

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    Further reading

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    • “boy”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

    Turkish

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    From Proto-Turkic *bod. See dialectal bodur (“stout, short”).

    Noun

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    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. stature
      Boyun ne kadar? ― How tall are you? (lit. "How much is your stature?")
    2. size
      küçük boy ― small size
    Derived terms
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    Etymology 2

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    Noun

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    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. tribe, clan
      eski Türk boyları tarihi ― history of ancient Turkish clans
    Declension
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    Inflection
    Nominative boy
    Definite accusative boyu
    Singular Plural
    Nominative boy boylar
    Definite accusative boyu boyları
    Dative boya boylara
    Locative boyda boylarda
    Ablative boydan boylardan
    Genitive boyun boyların

    Etymology 3

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    From Ottoman Turkish بوی (boy).

    Noun

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    boy

    1. (only constructed with otu or tohumu) fenugreek
      Synonym: çemen

    References

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    • Clauson, Gerard (1972) “”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 384b
    • Eren, Hasan (1999) “boy”, in Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language] (in Turkish), Ankara: Bizim Büro Basım Evi, page 59a
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