bói

See also: Appendix:Variations of "boi"

Istriot

Etymology

Inherited from Latin bullīre (“to bubble, boil”), from bulla (“bubble”).

Verb

bói

1. to boil, to brew

References

• Antonio Pellizzer; Giovanni Pellizzer (1992), Vocabulario del dialetto di Rovigno d'Istria, page 146
• Cergna, Sandro (2015), Vocabolario del dialetto di Valle d'Istria‎^[1], →ISBN, →OCLC

Lingala

Etymology

See Lingala boi.

Noun

bói class 14

1. honey

   Synonym: mafúta ma nzói

Related terms

• nzói

Macanese

Etymology

Borrowed from English boy. Semantically unrelated to Portuguese boy.

Noun

bói

1. waiter

   Chomâ bói trazê café co lête

   Ask the waiter to bring coffee with milk

Usage notes

• Also used in restaurants as an interjection to attract the attention of a waiter.

See also

• fóquei

References

• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm#boi

Portuguese

Noun

bói m (plural bóis)

1. alternative spelling of boy

Further reading

• “bói”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bói”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Vietnamese

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Mon-Khmer *pul ~ *puul ~ *puəl and cognate with Tho [Cuối Chăm] pɒːl³, Koho pôl and Khmer បូល (boul).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɔj˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɔj˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɔj˦˥]

Verb

bói • (𧴤, 貝)

1. to tell fortunes, to divine, to take an augury
   • 1819, “曲禮上 [Khúc Lễ Thượng, Qu Li I]”, in 禮記大全節要演義 [Lễ ký đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa, An Explanation (in Vietnamese) of the Selected Essentials from the Complete Collection of the Book of Rites]‎^[2], volume 1:

     𧴤路羅卜，𧴤𦹵羅筮。𧴤路𧴤𦹵意，羅𨅸先聖王所黙占麻决條嫌疑安𢚸𨀍（⿰𧾷滕）丕。

     Bói rùa là bốc, bói cỏ là thệ. Bói rùa bói cỏ ấy, là đấng tiên thánh vương thửa mặc xem mà quyết điều hiềm nghi yên lòng dùng dằng vậy.

     Divination with a turtle shell is called bu, divination with yarrow stalks is called shi. Turtle shell and yarrow stalk divination were what the former sage kings relied upon to examine and decide questionable matters, thereby settling their indecisive minds.

   • 1837, “金縢 [Kim Đằng, Metal-bound Coffer]”, in 書經大全節要演義 [Thư kinh đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa, An Explanation (in Vietnamese) of the Selected Essentials from the Complete Collection of the Book of Documents]‎^[3], volume 5 (in Vietnamese), archived from the original on 28 July 2026, page 1b:

     𠂫𧴤𠀧丐路，蔑𫯳蛰共卒。

     Bèn bói ba cái rùa, một chồng chập cùng tốt.

     Then [the duke] divined with three turtle shells, all three omens came out favorable.

Derived terms

• bói cá
• bói toán
• coi bói
• thầy bói
• xem bói