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Boy in Scrabble and Meaning

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What does boy mean? Is boy a Scrabble word?

How many points in Scrabble is boy worth? boy how many points in Words With Friends? What does boy mean? Get all these answers on this page.

Scrabble® and Words with Friends® points for boy

See how to calculate how many points for boy.

Is boy a Scrabble word?

Yes. The word boy is a Scrabble US word. The word boy is worth 8 points in Scrabble:

B3O1Y4

Is boy a Scrabble UK word?

Yes. The word boy is a Scrabble UK word and has 8 points:

B3O1Y4

Is boy a Words With Friends word?

Yes. The word boy is a Words With Friends word. The word boy is worth 8 points in Words With Friends (WWF):

B4O1Y3

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Valid words made from Boy

Results

3-letter words (2 found)

BOY,YOB,

2-letter words (5 found)

BO,BY,OB,OY,YO,

You can make 7 words from boy according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

Definitions and meaning of boy

boy

English

Etymology

    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, crook, bandit, knave”). See also bully.

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: boi, IPA(key): /bɔɪ/
    • (Southern US) IPA(key): /bɔːə/
    • (MLE) IPA(key): [bʷɔɛ̯]
    • Rhymes: -ɔɪ

    Noun

    boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys or (eye dialect) boyz)

    2. A young male human. [from 15th c.]
      1. (particularly) A male child or adolescent, as distinguished from an infant or adult.
    3. (diminutive, especially with a possessive) A son of any age.
    4. (endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker. [from 17th c.]
    5. (informal, sometimes mildly derogatory) A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).
    6. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave. [14th–17th c.]
    7. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, [from 14th c.] particularly:
      1. A younger such worker.
      2. (historical or offensive) A non-white male servant regardless of age, [from 17th c.] particularly as a form of address.
        • 1625, W. Hawkins in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. I, iii, vii, 211:
          My Boy Stephen Grauener.
      3. (obsolete) A male camp follower.
    8. (now offensive) Any non-white male, regardless of age. [from 19th c.]
      • 1812, Anne Plumptre translating Hinrich Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, Vol. I, i, viii, 119:
        A Hottentot... expects to be called by his name if addressed by any one who knows it; and by those to whom it is not known he expects to be called Hottentot... or boy.
    9. (informal, especially with a possessive) A male friend.
    10. (BDSM) A male submissive.
    11. A male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog. [from 15th c.]
    12. (historical, military) A former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.
    13. (US, slang, uncountable) Heroin. [from 20th c.]
    14. (somewhat childish) A male (tree, gene, etc).
      • 1970 [earlier 1963], Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult (→ISBN):
        Of the 100 percent total, 25 will have two girl genes, 50 will have one boy and one girl gene, and 25 will have two boy genes.

    Alternative forms

    • boi

    Synonyms

    • (young male): See Thesaurus:boy
    • (diminutive term of address to males): chap, guy, lad, mate
    • (son): See son
    • (male servant): manservant
    • (disreputable man): brat, knave, squirt
    • (heroin): See Thesaurus:heroin

    Antonyms

    • (antonym(s) of “young male”): See Thesaurus:girl

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    Translations

    Interjection

    boy

    1. Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.

    Related terms

    • oh boy

    Translations

    Verb

    boy (third-person singular simple present boys, present participle boying, simple past and past participle boyed)

    1. (transitive) To act as a boy (in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage).

    Coordinate terms

    • girl
    • man

    References

    • “boy” in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 7th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1963 (1967 printing), →OCLC.

    Anagrams

    • BYO, Y. O. B., Y.O.B., YOB, YoB, byo, oby, yob

    Azerbaijani

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /boj/

    Etymology 1

    From Proto-Turkic *bod (“body, stature; self; kin, tribe, etc”).

    Noun

    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. height, stature
      Boyum balacadır. ― I'm short. (literally, “My stature is little.”)
    Declension
    Derived terms

    Etymology 2

    Interjection

    boy

    1. Alternative form of bıy

    Further reading

    • “boy” in Obastan.com.

    Cebuano

    Etymology

    From English boy.

    Noun

    boy

    1. houseboy, errand boy
      Synonyms: houseboy, muchacho, mutsatso

    Chibcha

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /βoi/, /βoɨ/

    Noun

    boy

    1. Alternative form of boi

    References

    • Gómez Aldana D. F., Análisis morfológico del Vocabulario 158 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia. Grupo de Investigación Muysccubun. 2013.

    Chinese

    Etymology

    From English boy.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    boy

    1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
    2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) office boy

    See also

    • dog

    Dutch

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English boy. Cognate with Middle Dutch boye (“young man, boy”), whence Dutch boi (“boy”).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /bɔi̯/
    • Hyphenation: boy
    • Rhymes: -ɔi̯

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys, diminutive boytje n or (informal) boykie n)

    1. (historical, now offensive) a male domestic servant, especially one with a darker skin in a colony
      Synonym: djongos (Indonesia)
    2. (informal) boy, young man
      Ik vind die Roy echt een rare boy. ― I think this Roy is really a strange young man.

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    See also

    • guy

    French

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /bɔj/

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys)

    1. (now historical, offensive) boy (non-white male servant)

    Descendants

    • → Lingala: bɔ́i

    Further reading

    • “boy”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

    Hungarian

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈboj]
    • Hyphenation: boy
    • Rhymes: -oj
    • Homophone: boly

    Noun

    boy (plural boyok)

    1. A young male servant, low-position assistant.
      1. bellboy (in a hotel)
        Synonym: londiner
      2. office boy, errand boy, deliveryman
        Synonyms: kifutófiú, kézbesítő
    2. (dated) A male ballet dancer.

    Declension

    Derived terms

    See also

    • görl

    Further reading

    • boy in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

    Italian

    Etymology

    Pseudo-anglicism. In the sense "bellboy", a clipping of English bellboy; in other meanings, a transferred sense of English boy.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈbɔj/
    • Rhymes: -ɔj
    • Hyphenation: bòy

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys)

    1. a male ballet dancer
    2. bellboy (in a hotel)

    References

    Further reading

    • boy in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

    Ladino

    Etymology

    From Turkish boy (“stature, size”).

    Noun

    boy m

    1. size
    2. age

    Middle English

    Noun

    boy

    1. Alternative form of boye

    Polish

    Etymology

    Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈbɔj/
    • Rhymes: -ɔj
    • Syllabification: boy
    • Homophone: boj

    Noun

    boy m pers

    1. bellboy, office boy
      Synonym: garson

    Declension

    Further reading

    • boy in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
    • boy in Polish dictionaries at PWN

    Portuguese

    Etymology 1

    Unadapted borrowing from English boy. In the sense office boy, an ellipsis of office boy, from English office boy.

    Alternative forms

    • bói

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -ɔj

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys)

    1. office boy
      Synonym: office boy
    2. (Brazil, slang) boyfriend (male partner)
      Synonyms: namorado, (gay slang) bofe
      Estou com meu boy. ― I am together with my boyfriend.
    3. (Brazil, slang, sometimes derogatory) a young, upper-class man
      Synonyms: (Brazil) mauricinho, (Brazil) playboy
    4. (Brazil, slang) young man
      Me declarei pro boy. ― I declared [my love] for the guy.
    Derived terms
    Related terms

    Etymology 2

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -oj

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys)

    1. Obsolete spelling of boi.

    Further reading

    • “boy”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
    • “boy”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), Porto: 7Graus, 2009–2025
    • “boy”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
    • “boy”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
    • “boy”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
    • “boy”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

    Salar

    Etymology

    From Proto-Turkic *bȫg.

    Pronunciation

    • (Jiezi, Gaizi, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA(key): [poiʲ], [pojɨ]
    • (Xunhua, Hualong, Qinghai, Yining, Xinjiang) IPA(key): /poj/

    Noun

    boy

    1. spider

    References

    • Potanin, G.N. (1893) “boy”, in Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголия (in Russian)
    • Kakuk, S. (1962) “boy”, in “Un Vocabulaire Salar”, in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae‎[4], volume 14, number 2, Akadémiai Kiadó, →ISBN, pages 173-196
    • Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “boy”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, pages 451-452
    • 林莲云 [Lin Lianyun] (1985) “boy”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar]‎[5], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, →OCLC, page 121
    • Ma, Chengjun, Han, Lianye, Ma, Weisheng (December 2010) “boy”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary] (in Chinese), 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 50
    • 马伟 (Ma Wei), 朝克 (Chao Ke) (2016) “boy”, in 濒危语言——撒拉语研究 [Endangered Languages ​​- Salar Language Studies], 青海 (Qinghai): 国家社会科学基金项目 (National Social Science Foundation Project), page 265

    Spanish

    Etymology

    Pseudo-anglicism, derived from boy.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈboi/ [ˈboi̯]
    • Rhymes: -oi
    • Syllabification: boy

    Noun

    boy m (plural boys)

    1. a male stripper

    Further reading

    • “boy”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

    Sranan Tongo

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /boj/, [ˈbʊ̞j], [ˈbɔ̝j]

    Noun

    boy

    1. Alternative form of boi (official spelling)

    Tagalog

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English boy.

    Pronunciation

    • (Standard Tagalog) IPA(key): /ˈboj/ [ˈboɪ̯]
    • Rhymes: -oj
    • Syllabification: boy
    • Homophone: Boy

    Noun

    boy (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜌ᜔) (colloquial)

    1. boy (young male)
    2. errand boy; houseboy; boy doing a menial job (usually young)
      Synonyms: mutsatso, utusan

    Derived terms

    Related terms

    See also

    Further reading

    • “boy”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

    Turkish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [boj]

    Etymology 1

    From Proto-Turkic *bod. See dialectal bodur (“stout, short”).

    Noun

    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. stature
      Boyun ne kadar? ― How tall are you? (lit. "How much is your stature?")
    2. size
      küçük boy ― small size
    Derived terms
    • boylu
    • boyluluk
    • boysuz
    • boysuzluk

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    boy (definite accusative boyu, plural boylar)

    1. tribe, clan
      eski Türk boyları tarihi ― history of ancient Turkish clans
    Declension

    Etymology 3

    From Ottoman Turkish بوی (boy).

    Noun

    boy

    1. (only constructed with otu or tohumu) fenugreek
      Synonym: çemen

    References

    • Clauson, Gerard (1972) “”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 384b
    • Eren, Hasan (1999) “boy”, in Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language]‎[6] (in Turkish), Ankara: Bizim Büro Basım Evi, page 59a

    Source: wiktionary.org