Boyfriend

A boyfriend is a male friend or acquaintance, often specifying a regular male companion with whom one is platonic, romantically or sexually involved.^[1] This is normally a short-term committed relationship, where other titles (e.g. husband, partner) are more commonly used for long-term committed relationships. A boyfriend can also be called an admirer, beau, suitor and sweetheart.^[2]

Scope

A woman with her boyfriend at Alexanderplatz in March 1975.

A man with his boyfriend.

Partners in committed non-marital relationships are also sometimes described as a significant other or partner, ^[3] especially if the individuals are cohabiting.

Boyfriend and partner mean different things to different people; the distinctions between the terms are subjective. How the term is used will ultimately be determined by personal preference.^[4]

A 2005 study of 115 people ages 21 to 35 who were either living with or had lived with a romantic partner notes that the lack of proper terms often leads to awkward situations, such as someone upset over not being introduced in social situations to avoid the question.^[5]

There is a significant difference between girlfriend and boyfriend, and girl friend and boy friend. In a strictly grammatical sense, a girlfriend^[6] or boyfriend^[7] is an 'individual of significance' with whom one shares a relationship.

Word history

The word dating entered the American language during the Roaring Twenties. Prior to that, courtship was a matter of family and community interest. Starting around the time of the American Civil War, courtship became a private matter for couples.^[8] In the early to mid 20th century in the US, women were often visited by "gentleman callers", single men who would arrive at the home of a young woman with the hopes of beginning a courtship.^[9] The era of the gentleman caller ended in the early 20th century and the modern idea of dating developed.^[8]

In literature, the term is discussed in July 1988 in Neil Bartlett's, 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

• An older man may be referred to as a sugar daddy, a well-to-do man who financially supports or lavishly spends on a mistress, girlfriend, or boyfriend.^[10]
• In popular culture, slang, internet chat, and cellphone texting, the truncated acronym bf is also used.^[11]
• Leman, an archaic word for "sweetheart, paramour," from Medieval British 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 usually means mistress.^[12]
• The term young man was at some periods used with a similar connotation. For example, in the 1945 film "My Name Is Julia Ross" the female protagonist, seeking a secretarial job, is asked if she has "a young man"^[13] - where in later films a similar question would have referred to "a boyfriend".

See also

• Domestic partnership

References

External links

Look up boyfriend in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• EtymologyOnLine