Etymology

boyish

boy·ish
B3O1Y4I1S1H4

Today it means: Like a stereotypical boy in appearance or demeanor. Full definition →

English boy ← Middle English boye ← Old English *bōia
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰā-
  2. Proto-Germanic*bō-
  3. Proto-West Germanic*bōjō
  4. Old English*bōia
  5. Middle Englishboye
  6. Englishboy
  7. English todayboyish

From boy + -ish.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.