Dictionary

boyish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɔɪ.ɪʃ/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbojɪʃ/ (British, Southern, Standard)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō- Proto-West Germanic *bōjō Old English *bōia Middle English boye English boy Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English boyish From boy + -ish.

Meanings

1. Like a stereotypical boy in appearance or demeanor.
   • Her boyish figure belied her femininity.
   • He is never expected to act like a nice little gentleman, for he is only a rude little slave. Thus, freed from all restraint, the slave-boy can be, in his life and conduct, a genuine boy, doing whatever his boyish nature suggests; […] 1855, Frederick Douglass, “The Author’s Childhood”, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part I (Life as a Slave), page 41:
   • He did so, but very soon stopt again to say, “the piano-forte! Ah! That was the act of a very, very young man, one too young to consider whether the inconvenience of it might not very much exceed the pleasure. A boyish scheme, indeed!—I cannot comprehend a man’s wishing to give a woman any proof of affection which he knows she would rather dispense with; and he did know that she would have prevented the instrument’s coming if she could.” 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 279–280:
   • People disliked his boyish and juvenile behaviour.
   • There were no signs and no one quite knew how to navigate the museum, including, as it was Fleet Week, gaggles of boyish sailors all in their summer whites. It looked like a Frank Sinatra movie. 2014 June 7, Vicki Woods, “Sadness, and a surprise, at the 9/11 Museum: The memorial at Ground Zero is filled with objects that shock the tears out of you”, in The Daily Telegraph, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2014, page 24:
2. Relating to a boy, or occurring in boyhood.
   • For Memnon […] fought hand to hand with his overmatch, and met his boyish and most dolorous death beneath the walls of Troy. 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:

Forms

Deriveds

boyishness · unboyish · boyishly · tomboyish

Relateds

girlish · mannish · womanish

Translations (27)

de knabenhaft (like a boy) · io pueratra (like a boy) · da drenget (like a boy) · el αγορίστικος (like a boy) · pl chłopięcy (like a boy) · fi poikamainen (like a boy) · de jungenhaft (like a boy) · pt pueril (like a boy) · nb gutteaktig (like a boy) · ckb کوڕانە (like a boy) · ja 少年らしい (like a boy) · fo dreingjaligur (like a boy) · ru мальчи́шеский (like a boy) · cmn 少年的 (like a boy) · nl jongensachtig (like a boy) · cy mabol (like a boy) · tr oğlansı (like a boy) · sv pojkaktig (like a boy) · pt infantil (like a boy) · hu fiús (like a boy) · nn gutaktig (like a boy) · gd balachail (like a boy) · is strákslegur (like a boy) · eo knaba (like a boy) · fr de garçon (like a boy) · la puerārius (like a boy) · es muchachil (like a boy)