Meanings
plural tomboys · alternative tom boy
- A girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.
His sister, his dearest and only playmate, is a tomboy at heart.
2 more examples
“When you have a little girl like mine who is obsessed with the ocean and giant squids and insect infestations in homes, she’s considered weird or odd or a tomboy when in fact, science and things like that should be considered girly.”
2014 January 31, Kelly Wallace, “Pink, princess-y and sexy too soon”, in CNNI didn’t want to just look cool, or just look rock and roll; I wanted to look more girl. Looking back, I was trying to make more of a definite statement about what my look was and how I wanted to present myself. Tomboy, but more ambiguous than tomboy, too.
2015, Kim Gordon, chapter 27, in Carrie Thornton, editor, Girl in a Band, New York: Dey st., →ISBN, page 161Synonyms: hoyden, ladette, romp, bruh girl · Antonyms: girly girl, janegirl, femboy
- obsoleteA rude, boisterous boy.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Aramaicתאמא
- Aramaicתאומא (təʾōmā)
- Ancient GreekΘωμᾶς (Thōmâs)
- LatinThōmās
- Middle EnglishThomas
- Middle EnglishThomme
- EnglishTom
- Englishtom
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰā-
- Proto-Germanic*bō-
- Proto-West Germanic*bōjō
- Old English*bōia
- Middle Englishboye
- Englishboy
- Englishtomboy
From tom + boy. First attested in Ralph Roister Doister (published 1567, written circa 1552), where it is used to describe a boisterous girl; the OED says the citation is however "generally taken" to mean a boisterous boy, and says that a use in The Old Law (published 1656, thought to have been written circa 1599) "certainly" means a boy: "must young court-tits / play tomboys' tricks with her?" By 1579 it was attested in the meaning "an immodest woman", and by no later than 1592 it had developed its modern meaning of a “girl who acts like a boy”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فَتَاة مُسْتَرْجِلَة
- فَتَاة مُسْتَرْجِلَةgirl who acts as a typical boy would
Bengali গেছো মেয়ে, ধিঙ্গি মেয়ে
- গেছো মেয়ে (gecho mee)girl who acts as a typical boy would
- ধিঙ্গি মেয়ে (dhiṅgi mee)girl who acts as a typical boy would
- মর্দানি (mordani)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Bulgarian мъжкарана
- мъжкарана (măžkarana)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Catalan gallimarsot, noia masculina
- gallimarsotgirl who acts as a typical boy would
- noia masculinagirl who acts as a typical boy would
Chinese Cantonese 男人婆
- 男人婆 (naam⁴ jan⁴ po⁴)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Chinese Mandarin 假小子, 女漢子 /女汉子
- 假小子 (jiǎxiǎozi)girl who acts as a typical boy would
- 女漢子 /女汉子 (nǚhànzǐ)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Czech babochlap
- babochlapgirl who acts as a typical boy would
Danish drengepige
- drengepigegirl who acts as a typical boy would
Dutch tomboy, wildebras
- tomboygirl who acts as a typical boy would
- wildebrasgirl who acts as a typical boy would
Finnish poikatyttö
- poikatyttögirl who acts as a typical boy would
French garçon manqué, garçonne
- garçon manquégirl who acts as a typical boy would
- garçonnegirl who acts as a typical boy would
German burschikos, an ihr ist ein Junge verloren gegangen
- burschikosgirl who acts as a typical boy would
- an ihr ist ein Junge verloren gegangengirl who acts as a typical boy would
- Wildfanggirl who acts as a typical boy would
- Mannsweibgirl who acts as a typical boy would
- tomboygirl who acts as a typical boy would
Greek αγοροκόριτσο
- αγοροκόριτσο (agorokóritso)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Hungarian fiús lány
- fiús lánygirl who acts as a typical boy would
Indonesian tomboi, tomboy
- tomboigirl who acts as a typical boy would
- tomboygirl who acts as a typical boy would
Irish cailín báire
- cailín báiregirl who acts as a typical boy would
Italian maschiaccio
- maschiacciogirl who acts as a typical boy would
Japanese お転婆
- お転婆 (otenba)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Korean 말괄량이
- 말괄량이 (malgwallyang'i)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Latin puella masculina
- puella masculinagirl who acts as a typical boy would
Norwegian Bokmål guttejente
- guttejentegirl who acts as a typical boy would
Polish baba-chłop, chłopobaba
- baba-chłopgirl who acts as a typical boy would
- chłopobabagirl who acts as a typical boy would
- chłopczycagirl who acts as a typical boy would
- herod-babagirl who acts as a typical boy would
- kobietongirl who acts as a typical boy would
- babochłopgirl who acts as a typical boy would
Portuguese maria-rapaz, menina macha
- maria-rapazgirl who acts as a typical boy would
- menina machagirl who acts as a typical boy would
Romanian fată băiețoasă
- fată băiețoasăgirl who acts as a typical boy would
Russian паца́нка, мужичка
- паца́нка (pacánka)girl who acts as a typical boy would
- мужичка (mužička)girl who acts as a typical boy would
- томбой (tomboj)girl who acts as a typical boy would
Spanish marimacha, marimacho
- marimachagirl who acts as a typical boy would
- marimachogirl who acts as a typical boy would
- machorragirl who acts as a typical boy would
- chicazogirl who acts as a typical boy would
- varoneragirl who acts as a typical boy would
- chica masculinagirl who acts as a typical boy would
- hombrunagirl who acts as a typical boy would
Swedish pojkflicka
- pojkflickagirl who acts as a typical boy would
Tagalog tomboy
- tomboygirl who acts as a typical boy would
Turkish erkek Fatma, tomboy
- erkek Fatmagirl who acts as a typical boy would
- tomboygirl who acts as a typical boy would
Cite this entry
tomboy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomboy
“tomboy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomboy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tomboy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomboy.
Source: tomboy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.