boyfriend
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of boyfriend
Explanation
A boyfriend is a male romantic partner. Your cousin might ask if she can bring her boyfriend to the family Thanksgiving dinner this year. Usually, your boyfriend is a boy or man you're romantically involved with. Your aunt might join a dating site after breaking up with her boyfriend, and your ten year old neighbor might announce she has a boyfriend after a boy leaves a candy bar on her desk. The words boyfriend and girlfriend first appeared in the early 1900s, around the start of modern dating in the US.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pratt rose to prominence in 2007 when he joined the cast of The Hills, a spin-off of the MTV reality show Laguna Beach, as the boyfriend of Heidi Montag.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
Chole Baugh and her boyfriend, Joe Ford, are working on the left shin of the Giant.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
But Pratt got a second shot at reality fame on the MTV show “The Hills,” rising to prominence as the boyfriend — now husband— of Heidi Montag.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
As for Betesh, 36, the groom who channeled visions of the Titanic: His fiancée, Rachel Hodin, was happy to see her commercial real-estate broker boyfriend so invested in their event.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
“That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
