houseboy

See also: house boy and house-boy

English

WOTD – 19 May 2021

From house +‎ boy (“young male; (historical or offensive) non-white male servant regardless of age”).^[1]

houseboy (plural houseboys)

(chiefly historical) A young male domestic servant, especially in a British colony in former times.
Coordinate terms: housegirl, housemaid
- 1935, Ralph Lionel German, Handbook to British Malaya, 1935, [London]: [R. L. German]: Obtainable from the Malay Information Agency, Waterlow and Sons, →OCLC, page 50:
  House servants are usually either Chinese or Tamil, the former predominating, especially in towns of any size. The domestic staff will in general consist of a houseboy (in large establishments two houseboys), a water carrier (tukang ayer), whose duties include washing dishes and preparing baths, a cook, a gardener, a chauffeur or sais, and perhaps an ayah (if Chinese, amah) or two, according to the size of the family.
- 1949, Office of International Trade with Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, International Reference Service, volume 6, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 64:
  A married man with a family of three living in a private house will require in most cases a cook, houseboy, an amah (female servant) for washing and ironing, a second amah to take care of small children or infants, and one or possibly two gardeners depending on the size of the lot. A syce (chauffeur) is optional in each individual case. Cooks, houseboys, and amahs are usually Chinese, while gardeners and chauffeurs are Malay.
(chiefly historical, derogatory, offensive) A non-white adult male domestic servant.

young male domestic servant, especially in a British colony in former times

non-white adult male domestic servant

houseboy