What does boyfriend mean?
A boyfriend is a man or boy with whom a person has a romantic relationship, typically exclusive and not yet a marriage or formal engagement. The word is widely used across English-speaking countries and carries an informal-to-neutral register, appearing comfortably in everyday conversation as well as journalism and literature. Its older sense — simply a male friend — survives mainly in historical contexts, since modern usage almost always implies romance. Speakers commonly pair it with verbs such as have, meet, and introduce, and adjectives such as new, long-term, and ex- are frequent modifiers. The feminine counterpart is girlfriend, though both terms can occasionally be applied regardless of gender depending on speaker preference. As a compound of two plain English words, boyfriend is transparently formed and easily understood even by learners, making it one of the most practical vocabulary items for describing personal relationships in contemporary English.
nounA boyfriend is a man or boy with whom a person has a romantic relationship; also, a male friend (a sense now chiefly historical).
- A man or boy with whom one has a romantic relationship.
- (Historical) A male friend.
"She introduced her boyfriend to her parents over Sunday dinner."
"Her boyfriend surprised her with tickets to the concert."
"In the novel's opening chapter, he writes letters to his college boyfriend back home."
The plural most often refers to the boyfriends of multiple people (e.g., 'bring your boyfriends along'); it can also describe successive partners of one person.
"All the friends brought their boyfriends to the barbecue."
The word 'boyfriend' originally just meant 'a male friend' — romance only crept into it as the twentieth century got going.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of boyfriend
Boyfriend is a compound of boy and friend, both native English words with Old Germanic roots — friend descends from Old English frēond, related to the verb frēogan, 'to love'. The compound arose in English, with its simple 'male friend' sense attested from around the nineteenth century and the romantic sense becoming dominant during the early twentieth century. It shares the element friend with words like friendship and befriend, all stemming from the same Germanic root.
Word family
Usage notes
Informal to neutral register; used of romantic partners who are not married. The plural can refer to several people's boyfriends collectively rather than one person's multiple partners.
Don't confuse with
Girlfriend denotes a woman or girl in the same romantic role, while boyfriend specifically denotes a man or boy.