Etymograph

English

boy

Boy comes from Middle English boye ‘servant, boy’, from Proto-Germanic *bōjô ‘younger brother’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰā-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bō-1‘brother, close male relation’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōjô1‘younger brother’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bōjō1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*bōia1‘boy’reconstructed
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boye1‘servant, commoner, knave, boy’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1535boy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English boy
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1535, Myles Coverdale: “The ſtretes of the cite alſo ſhalbe full of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰā-Wiktionary, English boyreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bō-Wiktionary, English boy‘brother, close male relation’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōjôWiktionary, English boy‘younger brother’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bōjōWiktionary, English boyreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*bōiaWiktionary, English boy‘boy’reconstructed
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boyeWiktionary, English boy‘servant, commoner, knave, boy’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1535boyWiktionary, English boy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1535, Myles Coverdale: “The ſtretes of the cite alſo ſhalbe full of…”

The story

Also related to Saterland Frisian Bouge (‘boy’), 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’), Lombard bagaj ("boy"; (< Germanic)).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with boy, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-

  • baby ← babe ← *baba ← *babō ← *babô
  • babe ← *baba ← *babō ← *babô ← *bō-redup.

through Proto-Germanic *bō- ‘brother, close male relation’

  • bull ← boul ← bouler ← bôlen
  • boss ← baas ← baes ← *baso ← *baswō
  • bub

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Today it means

noun A male child.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “boy”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- / boy