Link Centre Dictionary

Plural / 3rd person of boy. Showing the entry for boy.

boy

UK/boj/ US/bɔɪ/ very common informal slang us

noun

1.

a youthful male person

  • “the baby was a boy”
  • “she made the boy brush his teeth every night”
  • “most soldiers are only boys in uniform”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

a friendly informal reference to a grown man

  • “he likes to play golf with the boys”
3.

a male human offspring

  • “their son became a famous judge”
  • “his boy is taller than he is”
Synonyms
Antonyms
4.

(ethnic slur) offensive term for Black man

  • “get out of my way, boy”

Origin

From Middle English boy /boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“boy”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōjō, from Proto-Germanic *bōjô (“younger brother, young male relation”), from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt- (“father, elder brother, brother”).

Phrases

  • all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
  • alphabet boy
  • altar boy
  • area boy
  • atta boy
  • baby boy
  • backroom boy
  • bad boy

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.