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boy

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "boy"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Bodo with y as a placeholder.

Symbol

boy

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Bodo (Central Africa).

See also

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys or (eye dialect) boyz)

    2. A male child. [from 15th c.]
      Kieran plays football with other boys in his school.
      • 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:
        The ſtretes of the cite alſo ſhalbe full of yonge boyes and damſelles, playnge vpon the ſtretes.
      • 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:
        I find I was mistaken in the sex, it is a boy.
      • 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:
        Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy?
      • 1876, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, “A Tale of Love”, in The Kiddle-a-Wink‎, page 168:
        "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."
      • 2014 January 31, Kelly Wallace, “Pink, princess-y and sexy too soon”, in CNN‎:
        Girls were offered baby dolls, princesses and sexy fashion figures; the boys section had superheroes, building blocks, science kits and dinosaurs.
      • 2018 March 28, Melissa Gray, “Boy in viral hug photo missing after family’s car plunges off cliff”, in CNN‎:
        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.
    3. A young man.
      Kate is dating a boy named Jim.
    4. (diminutive, especially with a possessive) A son of any age.
      • 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:
        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.
      • 2015, Gordon Smith, “Five-O” (38:10 from the start), in Better Call Saul, season 1, episode 6, spoken by Michael Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks):
        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.
    5. (endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker. [from 17th c.]
    6. (informal, sometimes mildly derogatory) A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).
      boys' club
      • 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 10:
        "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."
      • 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.
    7. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave. [14th–17th c.]
    8. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, [from 14th c.] particularly:
      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, 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.
    9. (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:
        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.
    10. (informal, especially with a possessive) A male friend.
    11. (BDSM) A male submissive.
    12. 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?
    13. (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.
    14. (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.
    15. (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.
    16. (endearing, colloquial) Any tangible object close to one's person; often used in emphatic forms such as bad boy.
      This boy can really kick!

    Alternative forms

    Synonyms

    Coordinate terms

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Jamaican Creole: bwoy
    • Sranan Tongo: boi, boy
    • → Cebuano: boy
    • → Chinese: boy
    • → Dutch: 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

    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

    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.
      • 2025 August 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Ralph Lauren Look of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement Photos”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
        Taylor Swift has entered her engagement era. And, as befitting an artist whose image has always evolved to reflect the shifts in her music — not to mention one who has never been afraid to share her most Hallmark-seeped romantic fantasies — boy, does she have a new look to go with her new status.
        (Can we archive this URL?)

    Translations

    Verb

    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

    References

    Anagrams

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    Azerbaijani

    More information Cyrillic, Arabic ...

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

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

    Noun

    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. height, stature
      Boyum balacadır. ― I'm short. (literally, “My stature is little.”)
    Declension
    More information singular, plural ...
    More information nominative, singular ...
    Derived terms

    Etymology 2

    Interjection

    boy

    1. alternative form of bıy

    Further reading

    • “boy” in Obastan.com.
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    Cebuano

    Etymology

    From English boy.

    Noun

    boy

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

    Chibcha

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    boy

    1. alternative form of boi

    References

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

    Chinese

    Etymology

    From English boy.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    boy

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

    See also

    Dutch

    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys, diminutive boytje n or (informal) boykie 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.

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    See also

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    French

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    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)

    Descendants

    Further reading

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    Hungarian

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    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

    More information singular, plural ...
    More information possessor, single possession ...

    Derived terms

    Compound words
    • boyszolgálat

    See also

    Further reading

    • 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

    Ladino

    Middle English

    Polish

    Portuguese

    Salar

    Spanish

    Sranan Tongo

    Tagalog

    Turkish

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