boy

Like girl, boy dates back to around 1250–1300. Also like the word girl, the ultimate origin of the word boy is obscure.

There are some clues to the roots of boy, however. It might be based on the Old English Bōia, a male given name. Furthermore, boy is related to the Frisian boi, “young man,” and the German Bube, “knave, boy, lad.” (Frisian, a language spoken in the northern Netherlands, is the Germanic language most closely related to English.) Interestingly, that German sense of “knave” is close in meaning to “male servant,” one of the earliest uses of boy. 

Boy isn’t alone: it finds lots of company in other English words that seem simple but whose origins are not. Discover more in our slideshow “‘Dog,’ ‘Boy,’ And Other Words That We Don’t Know Where They Came From.”

While boy usually means a male child, there are multiple instances where boy refers to a young adult or adult man. For instance, a boy band is often made up of young adult male performers, and a cowboy is a man that works on a ranch with cows. Adult men may also sometimes refer to his buddies as his boys or the boys. Parents will also frequently refer to their sons as their boys regardless of their age. Boy appears in countless expressions, from bad boy to boy oh boy!

Please note: calling Black adult men or other male members of minority groups boy is offensive. Read our Usage Note for more important context.