houseboy

See also: house boy

English

Alternative forms

• house boy, houseboi

Etymology

house +‎ boy

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

houseboy (plural houseboys)

1. A male domestic servant.
   • 1935, Ralph Lionel German, Handbook to British Malaya, 1935, [London]: [R. L. German]: Obtainable from the Malay Information Agency, Waterlow and Sons, →OCLC, page 50:

     House servants are usually either Chinese or Tamil, the former predominating, especially in towns of any size. The domestic staff will in general consist of a houseboy (in large establishments two houseboys), a water carrier (tukang ayer), whose duties include washing dishes and preparing baths, a cook, a gardener, a chauffeur or sais, and perhaps an ayah (if Chinese, amah) or two, according to the size of the family.

   • 1949, Office of International Trade with Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, International Reference Service, volume 6, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 64:

     A married man with a family of three living in a private house with require in most cases a cook, houseboy, an amah (female servant) for washing and ironing, a second amah to take care of small children or infants, and one or possibly two gardeners depending on the size of the lot. A syce (chauffeur) is optional in each individual case. Cooks, houseboys, and amahs are usually Chinese, while gardeners and chauffeurs are Malay.

Translations

male domestic servant

• Bulgarian: прислужник (bg) m (prislužnik)
• Hausa: boyi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Tok Pisin: hausboi

References

• “houseboy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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Cebuano

Etymology

From English houseboy.

Noun

houseboy

1. An errand boy; a houseboy.

Synonyms

• (errand boy): boy, muchacho, mutsatso