femboy

English

A femboy (sense 1) taking a mirror selfie

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-der.

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂

Proto-Italic *θēmanā

Proto-Italic *fēmanā

Latin fēmina

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lus

Latin fēmella

Old French femelebor.

Middle English femele

Middle English female

English femaleclip.

▲

Latin fēmina

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Italic *-īnos

Latin -īnus

Latin fēminīnusder.

Old French femininbor.

Middle English femynyne

English feminineclip.

English fem-

Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-

Proto-Germanic *bō-

Proto-West Germanic *bōjō

Old English *bōia

Middle English boye

English boy

English femboy

From fem- (“feminine”) + boy.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛm.bɔɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛm.boɪ/
• (Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈfem.boɪ/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Audio (California):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛmbɔɪ
• Hyphenation: fem‧boy

Noun

femboy (plural femboys)

2. A (typically young) male or non-binary individual who adopts a feminine aesthetic and has an androgynous appearance.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:effeminate man

   • 2015, Charles Cadman, Phallus Aforethought:

     A Thai boy is allowed to be effeminate. Such boys are accepted in school and in their villages, and their effeminacy is simply considered to be a part of their character. “In such an open society it could well be the case that these femboys feel more able to experiment and to develop their feminine side. If they proceed to the level of regularly dressing as a girl, taking female hormones and having breast implants, then they will have moved into the realm of becoming fully fledged ladyboys. […]

   • 2016, Cindy I-Fen Cheng, The Routledge Handbook of Asian American Studies:

     For example, “queer” would include self-identified lesbians and gays who also have sex with the “opposite sex,” sexual practices and relationships that include kink, s/m, polyamory, and pansexuality, gender play and fuck including femmes and those feminine of center, butches and those masculine of center, queens, femboys, gurls, bois, sissies, tomboys, crossdressers, drag queens and kings, and genderfluid people.

3. (proscribed, often offensive or derogatory) A trans woman or transfeminine person.

Usage notes

Historically and presently, this word has also been used by some trans women to describe themselves, and it is sometimes seen as an aesthetic, subculture, or community label rather than a gender label. The usage of this word to refer to trans women is generally considered mistaken, and the conflation of the two groups is seen as offensive.

The gender identity of femboys is generally (cis or trans) male or nonbinary, with some exceptions in trans women, as mentioned above.

Femboys are generally considered gender-nonconforming.

Derived terms

• femboydom
• femboyification
• femboyish
• femboyism

Related terms

• femboi
• fembro
• femby
• roseboy
• tomboy

Descendants

• → Dutch: femboy
• → French: femboy
• → German: Femboy
• → Lithuanian: fembojus
• → Portuguese: femboy
• → Russian: фембо́й (fembój)
• → Spanish: femboy
• → Ukrainian: фембо́й (fembój)

Translations

male with feminine aesthetics

• Arabic: وَلَد مُخَنَّث m (walad muḵannaṯ), فِمْبُوي (fimbūy)
• Basque: emagizona sg
• Belarusian: фембо́й m (fjembój)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 男娘 (zh) (nánniáng, literally “male girl”), 偽娘 / 伪娘 (zh) (wěiniáng, literally “fake girl”)

• Czech: femboy m
• Esperanto: viriniĉo, virjo, otokonoko
• Finnish: tyttöilijä, tytyilijä (fi)
• French: femboy (fr) m
• German: Femboy m
• Hungarian: legány
• Indonesian: femboy
• Italian: femboy, effemminato (it), femminiello
• Japanese: 男の娘 (otokonoko)
• Korean: 펨보이 (pemboi)
• Latin: puer dēlicātus m (literally “soft boy”), dēlicium n (literally “darling”), catamītus m
• Lithuanian: fembojus m
• Polish: kobiecy chłopak m anim, femboy m anim, żeńchłopiec m anim
• Portuguese: femboy (pt) m
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: фембо́й (ru) m (fembój)
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Sicilian: jarrusu (scn) m, fimmineḍḍa f
• Spanish: femboy (es) m
• Ukrainian: фембо́й (uk) m (fembój)

See also

• fembot
• mascgirl
• shemale
• otokonoko

Further reading

• Category:femboy on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• “Femboy”, in Know Your Meme, website launched 2007

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English femboy. Equivalent to fem- +‎ boy

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛm.bɔi̯/
• Hyphenation: fem‧boy

Noun

femboy m (plural femboys, no diminutive)

1. femboy (young effeminate man)

   Coordinate term: tomboy

2. otokonoko, josoko (male-to-female cross-dresser)

   Synonym: otokonoko

French

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English femboy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛm.bɔj/

Noun

femboy m (plural femboys)

1. femboy (young effeminate man)

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English femboy.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fẽˈbɔj/ [fẽˈbɔɪ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fẽˈbɔj/

• Rhymes: -ɔj
• Hyphenation: fem‧boy

Noun

femboy m (plural femboys)

1. femboy (young effeminate man)

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-der.

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂

Proto-Italic *θēmanā

Proto-Italic *fēmanā

Latin fēmina

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lus

Latin fēmella

Old French femelebor.

Middle English femele

Middle English female

English femaleclip.

▲

Latin fēmina

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Italic *-īnos

Latin -īnus

Latin fēminīnusder.

Old French femininbor.

Middle English femynyne

English feminineclip.

English fem-

Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-

Proto-Germanic *bō-

Proto-West Germanic *bōjō

Old English *bōia

Middle English boye

English boy

English femboyubor.

Spanish femboy

Unadapted borrowing from English femboy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfemboi/ [ˈfẽm.boi̯]
• Rhymes: -emboi
• Syllabification: fem‧boy

Noun

femboy m or f (plural femboys)

1. femboy (young effeminate man)

Usage notes

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.