kanto boy

noun

An office boy.

OriginTagalog kanto →
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Meanings

nounkanto boy (plural kanto boys)

plural kanto boys

  1. PhilippinesslangAn office boy.

Origin

  1. Tagalogkanto“corner, especially of two streets”
  2. Englishkanto boy

Originally from Japanese 官庁 (kanchō, “government office”) + boy, borrowed in during WW2 according to Potet (2016), but the former eventually got replaced with Tagalog kanto (“corner, especially of two streets”).

More words from Tagalog

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

kanto boy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kanto%20boy

MLA

“kanto boy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kanto%20boy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kanto boy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kanto%20boy.

Source: kanto boy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.