boy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: boi
ipa: /bɔɪ/
ipa: /bɔːə/
rhymes: -ɔɪ
homophone: boi
homophone: buoy
Forms: form: boys
form: boyz
form: boi
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Kieran plays football with other boys in his school.
text: The ſtretes of the cite alſo ſhalbe full of yonge boyes and damſelles, playnge vpon the ſtretes.
ref: 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Zachary [Zechariah] viij:[5], folio xcix, recto, column 2:
text: I find I was mistaken in the sex, it is a boy.
ref: 1711 March 18 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “[Dr. Swift’s Journal to Stella.] Letter XVII.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XIV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 371:
text: Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy?
ref: 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXIII, page 72:
text: "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."
ref: 1876, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, “A Tale of Love”, in The Kiddle-a-Wink, page 168:
text: Girls were offered baby dolls, princesses and sexy fashion figures; the boys section had superheroes, building blocks, science kits and dinosaurs.
ref: 2014 January 31, Kelly Wallace, “Pink, princess-y and sexy too soon”, in CNN:
text: The boy who made headlines when he was photographed hugging an officer during a 2014 protest against police brutality is missing after his family’s SUV plunged 100 feet off a coastal highway in California, officials said Wednesday.
ref: 2018 March 28, Melissa Gray, “Boy in viral hug photo missing after family’s car plunges off cliff”, in CNN:
glosses: A male child.
examples: text: Kate is dating a boy named Jim.
glosses: A young man.
examples: text: Low as that tide has ebbed with me, / It still reflects to memory’s eye / The hour, my brave, my only boy, / Fell by the side of great Dundee.
ref: 1805, Walter Scott, “Canto Fourth”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza II, page 94:
text: I tried. I tried. But he wouldn't listen. My boy was stubborn. My boy was strong. And he was gonna get himself killed. Now I told him, I told him I did it too. That I was like Hoffman, getting by, and that's what you heard that night: me talking him down, him kicking and screaming until the fight went out of him. He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy. I broke my boy.
ref: 2015, Gordon Smith, “Five-O” (38:10 from the start), in Better Call Saul, season 1, episode 6, spoken by Michael Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks):
glosses: A son of any age.
raw_tags: with a possessive
glosses: A male human younger than the speaker.
examples: text: boys' club
text: "My dear girl, what has he done?" said Mrs. Mallowe, sweetly. It is noticeable that ladies of a certain age call each other "dear girl," just as commissioners of twenty-eight years' standing address their equals in the Civil List as "my boy."
ref: 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 10:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).
examples: text: Do’ſt thou call mee foole boy?
ref: c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], signature [C4], verso:
glosses: A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave.
examples: text: He allowed his ‘boy’ - an overfed young negro from the coast - to treat the white men, under his very eyes, with provoking insolence.
ref: 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:
text: “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, […]
ref: 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, part 1: Beyond the Zero, page 37:
qualifier: now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations
glosses: A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly
examples: text: I resolved to continue in the Cave, with my two Servants, my Maid, and a Boy, whom I had brought from France.
ref: 1721, Penelope Aubin, The Life of Madam de Beaumount, ii, 36:
qualifier: now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations
glosses: A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee
A younger such worker.
examples: text: My Boy Stephen Grauener.
ref: 1625, W. Hawkins in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. I, iii, vii, 211
text: They picked out two of the strongest of the Boys (as they call the Men) about the place.
ref: 1834, Edward Markham, New Zealand or Recollections of It, section 72:
text: The blacks who work on a station or farm are always, like the blacks in the Southern States, called boys.
ref: 1876, Ebenezer Thorne, The Queen of the Colonies, or, Queensland as I Knew It, section 58:
text: 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.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 233:
text: [In Shanghai,] The register clerk assigns you to a room, and instead of ‘Front!’ he shouts ‘Boy!’
ref: 1907 May 13, Evening Post, N.Y, section 6:
text: He thrust his head into the aisle. "Boy!" A Chinese in a white coat responded listlessly. "What will you have? Beer?"
ref: 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 521:
text: Aborigine Wally... described himself as ‘number one boy’ at the station.
ref: 1960 February 5, Northern Territory News, 5/5:
qualifier: now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations
glosses: A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee
A non-white male servant regardless of age, particularly as a form of address.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1572, Flavius Vegetius Renatus, translated by John Sadler, Foure Bookes... Contayninge a Plaine Forme, and Perfect Knowledge of Martiall Policye..., iii, vii:
text: Godes plud kil the boyes and the lugyge,
Tis the arrants peece of knauery[…]
ref: 1599 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift, […] (First Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Tho[mas] Millington, and Iohn Busby […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], signature [E4], verso:
qualifier: now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations
glosses: A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee
A male camp follower.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1812, Anne Plumptre translating Hinrich Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, Vol. I, i, viii, 119
text: Every darky, however old, is a boy.
ref: 1888, Louis Diston Powles, Land of Pink Pearl, or Recollections of Life in the Bahamas, section 66:
text: [In Alabama,] Guards still use the term ‘boy’ to refer to Black prisoners.
ref: 1973 September 8, Black Panther, 7/2:
text: 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.
ref: 1979, Bert Newton, Mohammed Ali, The Logie Awards:
glosses: Any non-white male, regardless of age.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1980, Paul Simon, “Late in the Evening”, in One-Trick Pony:
glosses: A male friend.
raw_tags: with a possessive
topics: BDSM
lifestyle
sexuality
glosses: A male submissive.
examples: text: C'mere, boy! Good boy! Who's a good boy?
text: Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?
glosses: A male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog.
examples: text: Wounded... 1 Boy, 1st class, severely.
ref: 1841 May 6, Times, London, 5/4:
text: He joined the Navy as a boy second class in 1898.
ref: 1963 April 30, Times, London, 16/2:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.
examples: text: […] 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.
ref: 2021, Tim Weber, Heroin: the Ripple Effect:
glosses: Heroin.
examples: text: 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 ...
ref: 1950, Pageant:
text: 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.
ref: 1970 [earlier 1963], Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult
glosses: A male (tree, gene, etc).
examples: text: This boy can really kick!
glosses: Any tangible object close to one's person; often used in emphatic forms such as bad boy.
Synonyms: sense: diminutive term of address to males
word: chap
sense: diminutive term of address to males
word: guy
sense: diminutive term of address to males
word: lad
sense: diminutive term of address to males
word: mate
sense: son
word: son
sense: male servant
word: manservant
sense: disreputable man
word: brat
sense: disreputable man
word: knave
sense: disreputable man
word: squirt
sense: heroin
word: heroin
word: bhoy
word: boy
word: boykin
word: boyo
word: callant
word: chav
word: feely-omi
word: little boy
word: man child
word: manling
word: page
word: pillicock
word: sapling
word: shaveling
word: sonny
word: springald
word: stripling
word: yob
word: younker
word: youth
Hypernyms: word: child
Derived terms: aceboy
all-boys
all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
alphabet boy
altar boy
antiboy
area boy
attaboy
atta boy
baby boy
backroom boy
bad boy
bad-boy
bagboy
bag boy
ball boy
banjee boy
barboy
Barnardo's boy
barra boy
barrow-boy
barrow boy
Barry boy
bat boy
batboy
batty boy
b-boy
B-boy
beachboy
bellboy
bell boy
bendy-boy
best boy
big boy
big-boy pants
big boy pants
big boys
bimboy
bioboy
birl
birthday boy
bitchboy
black boy
blackboy
blood boy
blue-eyed boy
boat boy
boi
bonfire boy
book-boy
bootboy
boot boy
boot-boy
boss boy
bovver boy
box boy
boy band
boy-bishop
boy bishop
boy bits
boybortion
boychild
boyclit
boycock
boy crazy
boy-crazy
boy-cunt
boy cunt
boy-cut
boydem
boydick
boydom
boydyke
boyeen
boyey
boyfriend
boy-friend
boy friend
boyfu
boyfucker
boy-girl
boy group
boy hole
boyhood
boy howdy
boy in blue
boy in buttons
boy in the boat
boyish
boyism
boyitis
boy juice
boykin
boykind
boykisser
boyleg
boylesque
boyless
boylet
boylike
boylove
boylover
boyloving
boyly
boy-meets-girl
boy meets girl
boymode
boy mom
boyness
boy next door
boy-next-door
boyo
boy off
boy oh boy
boyology
boy or girl paradox
boy parts
boypreggers
boy preggers
boyproof
boy pussy
boy racer
boyremoval
boyremove
boys and girls
boys and their toys
Boy Scout
boy scout
boy scoutish
boy-short
boyshorts
boy shorts
boy-shorts
boyslash
boys of summer
boys will be boys
boy talk
boytjie
boy toy
boytoy
boy-toy
boywife
boy wonder
boyzilian
breaker boy
brotherboy
broth of a boy
bubble boy
bubble boy disease
bubble boy syndrome
buddy boy
bug boy
bully-boy
bully boy
bum boy
bumboy
bunnyboy
busboy
bus boy
bushboy
business boy
bussy
butcher boy
cabana boy
cabin boy
cabin-boy
cake boy
call boy
call-boy
callboy
camboy
candyboy
cash boy
catboy
caveboy
CC boy
charity boy
Chelsea boy
cherry boy
chickboy
chick boy
Chinaboy
choir boy
choirboy
choreboy
cis boy
cisboy
city boy
climbing-boy
climbing boy
collegeboy
college boy
conyo boy
copy boy
copyboy
corner boy
counterboy
cover boy
cowboy
cuntboy
daddy's boy
damber
day boy
dayboy
delivery boy
demiboy
dolly-boy
donkey-boy
doorboy
dough boy
doughboy
drawboy
dressing-boy
Dutch boy
Earthboy
e-boy
everyboy
every good boy deserves favor
every good boy deserves favour
every good boy deserves food
every good boy deserves fudge
every good boy deserves fun
every good boy does fine
fagboy
fag boy
fag-boy
fair-haired boy
fanboy
fangboy
farmboy
farm boy
fboy
femboy
fireboy
fishboy
fisherboy
fly-boy
flyboy
footboy
frat boy
friend boy
friendboy
fuckboy
fuck boy
fuck-boy
funny boy
garden boy
gay boy
gayboy
gay tyke boy
gentleboy
girl-boy
girls and boys
glory boy
glowboy
God boy
golden boy
golden shower boy
good boy
good boys deserve fudge always
good ol' boy
good old boy
good ole boy
good old boy network
gooseboy
goshwowboyoboy
grandboy
grease boy
Greenboy
Green Mountain boy
haut-boy
hawk boy
head boy
henchboy
herdboy
herdsboy
hod boy
homeboy
Honeyboy
hoo boy
hoo-boy
hopper boy
horse boy
house boy
house-boy
houseboy
Indian boys and girls
It boy
jack-boy
jack boy
Jewboy
jobs for the boys
jolly boy
kanto boy
kept boy
keyboy
kitchen-boy
knife-boy
ladyboy
lady boy
lardboy
laughing boy
lawnboy
lazyboy
leatherboy
lesboy
liftboy
link boy
little boy
little boys room
loblolly boy
lover boy
loverboy
lowboy
mama's boy
mamma's boy
man and boy
man boy
manboy
man-boy
M and M boys
merboy
messboy
milkboy
momma's boy
mommy's boy
moneyboy
monkey boy
monster boy
mummy's boy
muscle boy
my boy
nancyboy
nancy boy
nerdboy
newsboy
newspaperboy
nigger-boy
niggerboy
no-no boy
Oakboy
office boy
oh boy
old boy
old boy network
old-boy network
our boy
pageboy
page boy
paperboy
party boy
Peck's bad boy
peg boy
Percy boy
Perry boy
pick-me boy
pieboy
pinboy
pissboy
pizza boy
playboy
ploughboy
plowboy
po' boy
po' boy bread
police boy
ponyboy
pony boy
pool boy
poor boy
poor little rich boy
post boy
postboy
poster boy
potboy
pot boy
prat boy
pretty boy
principal boy
pull-up boy
puppyboy
pussyboy
pussy-boy
pussy boy
quarterboy
ranchboy
Ratboy
rent boy
roaring boy
rudeboy
rude boy
rugby boy
saga boy
sailor boy
salesboy
sandboy
schoolboy
scooterboy
sea boy
send a boy to do a man's job
separate the men from the boys
shag-boy
shamba boy
shanty boy
shipboy
shoeshine boy
shoot the messenger boy
shopboy
showboy
sideboy
since Adam was a boy
since Adam was an oakum boy
since Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard
slave boy
slaveboy
slicky boy
Small Party of Good Boys
snowboy
soap boy
softboy
soft boy
sonny boy
soulboy
soy boy
Spudboy
stable-boy
stable boy
stableboy
starboy
Steelboy
stick boy
stock-boy
stock boy
stockboy
suck-boy
suckboy
superboy
tallboy
t-boy
teaboy
teddy boy
Teddy boy
telegraph boy
the boys
tom boy
tomboy
ton-up boy
toyboy
toy boy
toy-boy
traffic boy
trainboy
transboy
trans boy
trash boy
turnboy
unboy
valley boy
water boy
wet boy
when Adam was an oakum boy
when Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard
whipping boy
whiteboy
white boy
Whiteboy
white boy wasted
who's a good boy
who's a pretty boy then
wide boy
wolf boy
wonderboy
wrenboy
ya boy
Yahoo boy
yahoo-yahoo boy
Yellow Boy
yellow boy
young boy
your boy