boy

Etymology

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

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

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (General American):

  (file)

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

Noun

boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys)

2. A young male human. [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: Printed for 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?

   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, 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."

3. (diminutive) 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.

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 (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?

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, 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, 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 […]

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:

     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.

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.

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).
   • 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.

Coordinate terms

• girl
• man

References

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

Anagrams

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boj/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

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