whipping boy

English

Etymology

First recorded in 1647.

Noun

whipping boy (plural whipping boys)

1. (historical) A boy who was whipped in the stead of a misbehaving prince.

   As the whipping boy, he must take the whippings for the royal heir, Prince Brat.

2. (transferred sense) Someone punished for the errors of others.

   Synonyms: scapegoat; see also Thesaurus:scapegoat

   Coordinate term: whipping girl

Translations

someone punished for the errors of others

• Armenian: մտրակող տղա (mtrakoġ tġa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 替罪羊 (zh) (tìzuìyáng)

• Danish: piske dreng
• Dutch: zondebok (nl) m
• Esperanto: vipanta knabon
• Estonian: peksupoiss
• Finnish: syntipukki (fi)
• French: lampiste (fr) m or f, pigeon (fr) m, souffre-douleur (fr)
• German: Prügelknabe (de) m
• Hebrew: נער מלקות m (náar malkót)
• Hungarian: pofozógép (hu), bűnbak (hu)
• Italian: capro espiatorio (it) m
• Latin: plāgipatida m
• Polish: chłopiec do bicia m
• Portuguese: bode expiatório (pt) m
• Romanian: țap ispășitor (ro) m
• Russian: ма́льчик для битья́ (ru) m (málʹčik dlja bitʹjá), козёл отпуще́ния m (kozjól otpuščénija); крайний (ru) m (krajnij), стре́лочник (ru) m (stréločnik)
• Spanish: chivo expiatorio (es) m
• Swedish: strykpojke (sv) c, strykgosse (sv) c