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A 'boyfriend' is a male partner in a non-marital romantic relationship.

Contents

Scope

Word history

Synonyms

Notes and references

External links

See also

Scope

The term is most commonly used to describe any male person, who is in a romantic relationship with another person.
Partners in such non-marital relationships are also sometimes described as a ''significant other'' or simply ''partner'', especially if the individuals are cohabitating. The differences between all these terms are subjective and their usage is ultimately determined by personal preference.
The term is now being extended in sense as found for its female equivalent, ''girlfriend'', a term sometimes used by women referring to their non-romantic female friends, i.e. referring to a man's non-romantic male friends. This extended sense is in common use in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Similarly the term ''guyfriend'' is sometimes used by females to refer to non-romantic male friends.
Though nuanced, there is a significant difference between ''girlfriend'' and ''boyfriend'', and ''girl friend'' and ''boy friend''. In a strictly grammatical sense, a ''girlfriend'' or ''boyfriend'' is an 'individual of significance' with whom one shares a relationship. A ''girl friend'' or ''boy friend'', however, is simply a friend identified on the basis of gender.

Word history

The word itself is relatively new -- its first usage in print known to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is in George W. E. Russell's ''Collections and recollections, by one who has kept a diary'', in 1909.^[1]
In the past it had implications of an illicit relationship (as sexual and romantic relationships outside marriage were generally frowned upon). It is now a generally accepted term, however, no longer having negative connotations. An earlier usage in print, dating from July 1889, is discussed in Neil Bartlett, ''Who Was That Man? A Present for Mr Oscar Wilde.'' On pages 108-110, Bartlett quotes from an issue of ''The Artist and Journal of Home Culture'', which refers to Alectryon as "a boyfriend of Mars."

Synonyms

★ beau, guy, flame, follower, fiance, inamorato, Romeo, swain, boo, shorty, baby

★ Certain terms suggest an older man, e.g. daddy, gentleman caller, gentleman friend, main man, man, old man, sugar daddy, while the contrary is true of young man (and the gender-neutral baby)
Additionally, gender-indiscriminate terms also apply, e.g. lover, heartthrob, paramour, squeeze, sweetheart, true love and some more specific terms such as cavalier, wooer, and gender-neutral ones like date, escort, steady or suitor; furthermore, non-gender specific euphemisms such as admirer, companion,

★ leman or lemman, an archaic word for "sweetheart, paramour," from Medieval English ''leofman'' (c.1205), from Old English ''leof'' (cognate of Dutch ''lief'', German ''lieb'') "dear" + ''man'' "human being, person" was originally applied to either gender, but remarkably usually meant mistress

★ Users of Internet slang often shorten ''boyfriend'' to the acronym ''bf'' or the contraction ''boyf''.^[2]

Notes and references

1. George W. E. Russell. ''Collections and recollections, by one who has kept a diary'' p.330 "The young ladies... meet their boy-friends at all hours and places." The ''OED'' contradicts itself, saying in another place that the diary was published in 1898.
2. [1]

External links

★ EtymologyOnLine

★ Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition ON Thesaurus.reference.com

See also

★ Girlfriend

★ Courtship

★ Life partner

★ Significant other