boy

CEFRA1

/bɔɪ/

noun · interjection

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A male child or young man.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A son of any age.

Examples

  • Hunger compelled the boy to steal money from the cash register.

  • Now that you are a big boy, you may do as you please.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /bɒj/
  • /boɪ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A young man.

  2. A male child.

interjection

Extra meaning

  1. Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.

More examples

In context

  • This is the boy I think about.

  • Kate is dating a boy named Jim.

  • Kieran plays football with other boys in his school.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The young blank helped his father carry the groceries from the car.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”). Cognate with Scots boy (“boy”), West Frisian boai (“boy”), Dutch boi (“boy”), Low German Boi (“boy”), and probably to the Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe (“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa (“brother”), Dutch boef (“rogue, knave”), Bavarian Bua (“young boy, lad”), German Bube ("boy; knave; jack"; > English bub), Icelandic bófi (“rogue...