boy

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[edit] English

Painting of a boy.

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English boy, boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“boy”), from Anglo-Frisian *bō-jan- (“younger brother”), diminutive of Proto-Germanic base *bō- (“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhā-, *bhāt- (“father, elder brother, brother”). Cognate with West Frisian boai (“boy”), Eastern Frisian boi (“boy, young gentleman”), and perhaps to Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to Flemish boe (“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa (“brother”), Dutch boef (“rogue, knave”), German dialectal Bube (“boy, lad, knave”). See also bully.

[edit] Alternative forms

  • boi (Jamaican English)

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

boy (plural boys)

  1. A young male human.
    The boys were playing kickball in the mud.
    Steve is a boy of 16.
  2. A man of any age, used as a friendly diminutive, or of a man who is merely younger than the speaker.
    Whatever else you say about him, the boy can play.
  3. (now rare) A male servant.
    When the 'dipenda' (independence movement) in Belgian Congo turned violent, the white colonisators' often materially privileged black domestic boys were mistrusted and often abused as collaborators.
  4. (US, offensive, pejorative, historical) A non-white slave or labourer; a male African-American of any age.
  5. (obsolete, pejorative) A lower-class or disreputable man; a worthless person.
    • 1608, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I Scene 4:
      Dost thou call me fool, boy?
  6. An adult male, particularly when used by straight women or gay men to refer to someone considered attractive.
  7. (informal) Male (usually adult) friend; mainly used in the plural: boys.
    I’m going out for a few drinks with the boys.
    Me and my boy grew up together in Southside.
  8. (endearing) A proud parent's son, regardless of age.
    That's my boy.
  9. (endearing) A caring owner's pet or working animal, regardless of age.
    Here, boys, heel; yes, Bobby, show the puppies how, good boy!

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] See also

  • (African-American): uncle

[edit] Antonyms

  • (young male): girl

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from boy

[edit] Descendants

[edit] Translations

young male
male of any age, used as a friendly diminutive
adult male found attractive
male friend
endearing: proud parent's son
male servant
male African-American
lower-class or disreputable man
endearing caring owner's pet or working animal
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] 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!"

[edit] Translations

surprise or pleasure

[edit] Verb

boy (third-person singular simple present boys, present participle boying, simple past and past participle boyed)

  1. To use the word boy to refer to someone.
    "Don't boy me!"

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Noun

boy m. (plural boys, diminutive boytje)

  1. A male domestic servant, especially colored in a colony.

[edit] See also

[edit] Italian

[edit] Noun

boy m. (inv)

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

[edit] Ladino

[edit] Etymology

From Turkish boy (“stature, size”).

[edit] Noun

boy m. (Latin spelling)

  1. age, size

[edit] Sranan Tongo

[edit] Etymology

From English boy.

[edit] Noun

boy

  1. A boy

[edit] Turkish

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old Turkic bod, from Proto-Turkic *bod.

[edit] Noun

boy

  1. stature
    boyun ne kadar? - how tall are you? (lit. "How much is your stature?")
  2. size
    küçük boy - small size

[edit] Etymology 2

From Old Turkic bod, from Proto-Turkic *bod.

[edit] Noun

boy

  1. tribe, clan
    eski Türk boyları tarihi - history of ancient Turkish clans
[edit] Declension
declension of boy
singular (tekil) plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın) boy boylar
definite accusative (belirtme) boyu boyları
dative (yönelme) boya boylara
locative (bulunma) boyda boylarda
ablative (çıkma) boydan boylardan
genitive (tamlayan) boyun boyların
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