boy

Clipping of English Bodo with y as a placeholder.

boy

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

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Bodo (Central Africa) terms

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”), Lombard bagaj. See also bully.

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ
• Homophones: boi, (one pronunciation) buoy
• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: boi, IPA^(key): /bɔɪ/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (General American, female):

    (file)

  • Audio (General American, male):

    (file)

• (Southern US) IPA^(key): /bɔːə/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /bɒj/
  • (father-bother merger) IPA^(key): /bɑːj/
    • Homophones: bye, (without aspiration) bhai

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^[1], 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^[2]:

     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^[3]:

     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.

4. (loosely, informal) A young man.

   Kate is dating a boy named Jim.

6. (loosely, 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.

8. (loosely, endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker. [from 17th c.]
10. (loosely, 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.

12. (loosely, 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 (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:

      Do’ſt thou call mee foole boy?

14. (loosely, 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, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, part 1: Beyond the Zero, page 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^[4], 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 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:

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

16. (loosely, 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^[5]:

      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.

18. (loosely, informal, especially with a possessive) A male friend.

    hanging with my boys

    • 1980, Paul Simon, “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.

20. (BDSM) A male submissive.
22. 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?

24. (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.

26. (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.

28. (often 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.

30. (endearing, colloquial) Any tangible object close to one's person; often used in emphatic forms such as bad boy.

    This boy can really kick!

• 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

• 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.

   • 2025 August 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Ralph Lauren Look of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement Photos”, in The New York Times‎^[6], 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?)

• 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

• “boy” in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 7th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1963 (1967 printing), →OCLC.

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

• 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.”)

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 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.

• guy

Borrowed from English boy.

• IPA^(key): /bɔj/

• Audio (France, Nancy):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (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)

• → Lingala: bɔ́i

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

Unadapted borrowing 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.

• 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 2026).

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

1. size
2. age

boy

1. alternative form 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^[7] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “boy”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[8] (in Polish)

Unadapted borrowing from English boy. In the sense office boy, an ellipsis of office boy, from English office boy.

• bói

• Rhymes: -ɔj

boy m (plural boys)

1. office boy

   Synonym: office boy

2. (Brazil, slang) boyfriend (male partner)

   Synonyms: namorado, (gay slang) bofe

   Estou com meu boy. ― I am together with my boyfriend.

3. (Brazil, slang, sometimes derogatory) a young, upper-class man

   Synonyms: (Brazil) mauricinho, (Brazil) playboy

4. (Brazil, slang) young man

   Me declarei pro boy. ― I declared [my love] for the guy.

• Rhymes: -oj

boy m (plural boys)

1. obsolete spelling of boi

• “boy”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “boy”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2026
• “boy”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2026
• “boy”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “boy”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “boy”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

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 [Tangutsko-Tibetskaja okraina Kitaja i Centralʹnaja Mongolija] (in Russian)
• Kakuk, S. (1962), “boy”, in “Un vocabulaire Salar”, in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae‎^[9], volume 14, number 2, Akadémiai Kiadó, →ISBN, page 186
• Tenishev, Edhem (1976), “boy”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow: Nauka, pages 451-452
• 林莲云 [Lin Lianyun] (1985), “boy”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar]‎^[10], 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 [Sā-Wéi-Hàn cídiǎn, Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary] (in Chinese), 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 50
• 马伟 [Ma Wei] (2016), “boy”, in 濒危语言——撒拉语研究 [Endangered Languages ​​- Salar Language Studies], 青海 [Qīnghǎi, Qinghai]: 青海师范大学 [Qinghai Normal University], unpublished finalized project manuscript (国家社会科学基金项目结项稿, 定稿; National Social Science Fund of China), 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 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• IPA^(key): /boi̯/, [bʊ̞i̯], [bɔ̝i̯]

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, 2018

• IPA^(key): [boj]

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

boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

1. stature, height

   Boyun ne kadar? ― How tall are you? (literally, “How much is your stature?”)

2. size

   küçük boy ― small size

3. edge, side (of some linear feature)

   boydan boya ― all over (literally, “from edge to edge”)

• boylu
• boyluluk
• boysuz
• boysuzluk

boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

1. tribe, clan

   eski Türk boyları tarihi ― history of ancient Turkish clans

From Ottoman Turkish بوی (boy).

boy

1. (only constructed with otu or tohumu) fenugreek

   Synonym: çemen

• Clauson, Gerard (1972), An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 384b
• Eren, Hasan (1999), “boy”, in Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language]‎^[11] (in Turkish), Ankara: Bizim Büro Basım Evi, page 59a