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.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: boi, IPA^(key): /bɔɪ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (Southern US) IPA^(key): /bɔːə/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

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.
   • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, 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:

     My only boy fell by the side of great Dundee.

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.]
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     Dost thou call me fool, boy?

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.
      • 1572, Flavius Vegetius Renatus, translated by John Sadler, Foure Bookes... Contayninge a Plaine Forme, and Perfect Knowledge of Martiall Policye..., iii, vii:

        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.

      • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], line 1:

        Godes plud kil the boyes and the lugyge,
        Tis the arrants peece of knauery […]

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.
   • 1980, Paul Simon (lyrics and music), “Late in the Evening”, in One-Trick Pony:

     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.

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.

• boi

• (young male): See Thesaurus:boy
• (diminutive term of address to males): chap, guy, lad, mate
• (son): See son
• (male servant): manservant
• (disreputable man): brat, knave, squirt
• (heroin): See Thesaurus:heroin

• (antonym(s) of “young male”): See Thesaurus:girl

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.

• oh boy

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).
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.

• girl
• man

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

• BYO, Y. O. B., Y.O.B., YOB, YoB, byo, oby, yob

Other scripts

Cyrillic		бој
Abjad		بوْی

• IPA^(key): /boj/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

1. height, stature

   Boyum balacadır. ― I'm short. (literally, “My stature is little.”)

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

boy

1. Alternative form of bıy

• “boy” in Obastan.com.

From English boy.

boy

1. houseboy, errand boy

   Synonyms: houseboy, muchacho, mutsatso

• IPA^(key): /βoi/, /βoɨ/

boy

1. Alternative form of boi

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

From English boy.

boy

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

• dog

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

• IPA^(key): /bɔi̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: boy
• Rhymes: -ɔi̯

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.

• guy

Borrowed from English boy.

• IPA^(key): /bɔj/

• Audio; “cow-boy”:

  (file)

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)

• “boy”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from English boy.

• IPA^(key): [ˈboj]
• Hyphenation: boy
• Rhymes: -oj
• Homophone: boly

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.

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

• görl

• 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).

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔj/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔj
• Hyphenation: bòy

boy m (plural boys)

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

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

From Turkish boy (“stature, size”).

boy m (Latin spelling)

1. size
2. age

boy (plural boys)

1. Alternative spelling of boye

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔj/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔj
• Syllabification: boy
• Homophone: boj

boy m pers

1. bellboy, office boy

   Synonym: garson

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

Ellipsis of office boy, from English office boy.

• bói

• Rhymes: -ɔj

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.

• boyzinho

• Rhymes: -oj

boy m (plural boys)

1. Obsolete spelling of boi.

• “boy”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2024
• “boy”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), Porto: 7Graus, 2009–2024
• “boy”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2024
• “boy”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024
• “boy”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2024
• “boy”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

From Proto-Turkic *bȫg.

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

boy

1. spider

• 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

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

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

boy m (plural boys)

1. a male stripper

• “boy”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

boy

1. Alternative form of boi (official spelling)

Borrowed from English boy.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈboj/ [ˈboɪ̯]
• Rhymes: -oj
• Syllabification: boy
• Homophone: Boy

boy (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜌ᜔) (colloquial)

1. boy (young male)
2. errand boy; houseboy; boy doing a menial job (usually young)

   Synonyms: mutsatso, utusan

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

• IPA^(key): [boj]

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

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

• boylu
• boyluluk
• boysuz
• boysuzluk

boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

1. tribe, clan

   eski Türk boyları tarihi ― history of ancient Turkish clans

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

From Ottoman Turkish بوی (boy).

boy

1. (only constructed with otu or tohumu) fenugreek

   Synonym: çemen

• 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