boyish

English

Etymology

boy +‎ -ish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔɪ.ɪʃ/
• Hyphenation: boy‧ish

Adjective

boyish (comparative more boyish, superlative most boyish)

1. Like a stereotypical boy in appearance or demeanor.
   • 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 1, in My Bondage and My Freedom, New York: Miller, Orton and Mulligan:

     He is never expected to act like a nice little gentleman, for he is only a rude little slave. Thus, freed from all restraint, the slave-boy can be, in his life and conduct, a genuine boy, doing whatever his boyish nature suggests.

   People disliked his boyish and juvenile behaviour.

   Her boyish figure belied her femininity.

Translations

like a boy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 少年的 (zh) (shàonián de)

• Danish: drenget
• Dutch: jongensachtig (nl)
• Esperanto: knaba
• Faroese: dreingjaligur
• Finnish: poikamainen (fi)
• French: de garçon (fr)
• German: jungenhaft (de), knabenhaft (de)
• Greek: αγορίστικος (el) (agorístikos)
• Hungarian: fiús (hu)
• Icelandic: strákslegur (is)
• Ido: pueratra (io)
• Japanese: 少年らしい (ja) (しょうねんらしい, shōnen rashii)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کوڕانە‎ (ku) (kurrane)

• Latin: puerārius (Mediaeval)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gutteaktig (no)

  Nynorsk: gutaktig

• Polish: chłopięcy (pl)
• Portuguese: pueril (pt), infantil (pt)
• Russian: мальчи́шеский (ru) (malʹčíšeskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: balachail
• Swedish: pojkaktig (sv)
• Turkish: oğlansı
• Welsh: mabol