English
boy
see also: BOY
Etymology

From Middle English boy//boye, from Old English *bōia, from Proto-West Germanic *bōjō, from Proto-Germanic *bōjô, from Proto-Germanic *bō-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt-.

Cognate with Scots boy, Western Frisian boai, Dutch boi, Low German Boi, and probably to the Old English - proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe, Norwegian - dialectal boa ("brother"), Dutch boef, Bavarian Bua, German Bube "boy; knave; jack"; > English bub, Icelandic bófi. See also bully.

Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) enPR: boi, IPA: /bɔɪ/
  • (Southern American English) IPA: /bɔːə/
Noun

boy

  1. 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 shalbe 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, The Kiddle-a-Wink ↗, "A Tale of Love", 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."
  2. (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.
  3. (affectionate, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker. [from 17th c.]
  4. (informal, sometimes mildly derogatory) A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).
    boys' club
  5. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave. [14th]
    • 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?
  6. (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, section 58:
        The blacks who work on a station or farm are always, like the blacks in the Southern States, called boys.
      • 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 […]
  7. (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.
    • 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.
  8. (informal, especially, with a possessive) A male friend.
  9. (BDSM) A male submissive.
  10. 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?
  11. (historical, military) A former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.
  12. (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.
  13. (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 9780801538582):
      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.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: garotão
Interjection
  1. Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.
    Boy, that was close!
    Boy, that tastes good!
    Boy, I wish I could go to Canada!
Related terms Translations Verb

boy (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.
BOY
Adjective

boy (not comparable)

  1. (education) Initialism of beginning of year
    Coordinate term: EOY


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