Meaning

18 senses
  1. (countable, uncountable)A male child.

    Kieran plays football with other boys in his school.

    Bub, Bube, Junge

    ма́льчикmálʹčik, паца́нpacán

    хло́пецьxlópecʹ, хло́пчикxlópčyk

    a youthful male person

  2. (broadly, countable, informal, uncountable)A young man.

    Kate is dating a boy named Jim.

    Bube, Bursche, Bursch

    ю́ношаjúnoša, па́реньpárenʹ, подро́стокpodróstok

    хло́пецьxlópecʹ

    a friendly informal reference to a grown man

  3. (broadly, countable, diminutive, especially, uncountable)A son of any age.

  4. (broadly, countable, diminutive, endearing, uncountable)A male human younger than the speaker.

    a male human offspring

  5. (broadly, countable, derogatory, informal, mildly, sometimes, uncountable)A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).

    boys' club

  6. (broadly, countable, uncountable)A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly

  7. A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee

    (broadly, countable, uncountable)A younger such worker.

  8. (broadly, countable, historical, offensive, uncountable)A non-white male servant regardless of age, particularly as a form of address.

  9. (broadly, countable, offensive, uncountable)Any non-white male, regardless of age.

  10. (broadly, countable, especially, informal, uncountable)A male friend.

    hanging with my boys

    Jung

    ребя́таrebjáta

  11. (countable, uncountable)A male submissive.

  12. (countable, uncountable)A male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog.

    C'mere, boy! Good boy! Who's a good boy?

    Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?

Examples

4506 sentences
  1. Every boy and girl knows him.

    Кожен хлопець чи дівчина знає його.

    ruКаждый мальчик и каждая девочка его знают.

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  2. The boy sat on a chair.

    Хлопчик сів на стілець.

    ruМальчик сел на стул.

    deDer Junge saß auf einem Stuhl.

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  3. The boy can count to ten.

    Хлопчик може рахувати до десяти.

    ruМальчик умеет считать до десяти.

    deDer Junge kann bis zehn zählen.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. Every boy here has a girlfriend.

    Тут у кожного хлопця є дівчина.

    deJeder Junge hier hat eine Freundin.

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  5. I know some of these boys.

    Я знаю декого з цих хлопців.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 3
male servant:
male of any age, used as a friendly diminutive:
affectionate term of address for male dog:
Русский
By meaning 6
male servant:
non-white male:
male of any age, used as a friendly diminutive:
male child:
young man:
male friend:
Deutsch
By meaning 5
male servant:
male of any age, used as a friendly diminutive:
male child:
young man:
male friend:

Origin

From Middle English boy /boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“

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”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: boys
Singularboy
Pluralboys

regular

Synonyms

31 synonyms
son:sonA1
diminutive term of address to males:guyA1mateB2chaplad
disreputable man:bratknavesquirt
heroin:heroin
male servant:manservant
Close in meaning

Antonyms

2 antonyms

Word family

340 related words

Collocations

12 patterns
  • the only boy
  • the other boys
  • the boy was
  • of the boys
  • other boys
  • the boy who
  • a little boy
  • little boy
  • was a boy
  • boy over there
  • boy in the
  • all the boys

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
boy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto