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.
Annie Evans-Lewis, from Llanybri in Carmarthenshire, was living in East Pingelly, south-east of Perth, with her boyfriend Cai James.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
As Montag’s troublemaker boyfriend, Pratt quickly became a master at stirring up drama, frequently at the expense of Conrad, Montag’s friend and roommate.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
The teenager claimed that her boyfriend had gone up alone to the sand dune where the trio were, but Turley was not there initially.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
I attended high school there and had the cutest boyfriend.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
And then my grandmother was talking—about her recent trip to Korea and her archnemesis neighbor and her forty-two-year-old boyfriend who she insists we call Uncle Gene.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
