tomboy
/ˈtɒm.bɔɪ/US/ˈtɑm.bɔɪ/
tomboy noun: a girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.
Noun
tomboy (plural tomboys)
- A girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.
- His sister, his dearest and only playmate, is a tomboy at heart.
- “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 CNN
- Antonyms:
- girly girl, janegirl, femboy
- A rude, boisterous boy.
- An immodest or bold woman.
- A butch lesbian.
tomboy meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Kannada
tomboy in Tamil
- ஆண் குணம் மிகுந்த பெண்
tomboy in Urdu
- چست و چالاک لڑکی
tomboy in Bengali
- girl who acts as a typical boy would
- গেছো মেয়ে gecho mee, ধিঙ্গি মেয়ে dhiṅgi mee, মর্দানি mordani
tomboy in Kannada
- ಗಂಡುಬೀರಿ ಹುಡುಗಿ
More languagesFewer languages
- tomboy in Tagalog
- tomboy
- tomboy in Arabic
- فَتَاة مُسْتَرْجِلَة
- tomboy in Indonesian
- tomboi, tomboy
- tomboy in Myanmar
- ယောက်ျားလျာ
Synonyms of tomboy
Antonyms
Forms of tomboy
| plural | tomboys |
|---|---|
| alternative form | tom boy |
Origin of tomboy
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”.
Words formed from tomboy
Questions about tomboy
- What does tomboy mean?
- Tomboy means a girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.
- What is tomboy in Tamil?
- Tomboy in Tamil is ஆண் குணம் மிகுந்த பெண். See Tomboy meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is tomboy?
- Tomboy is a noun.
- How do you pronounce tomboy?
- Tomboy is pronounced /ˈtɒm.bɔɪ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tomboy?
- The plural of tomboy is tomboys.
Words near tomboy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tomboy (page history and authors); tomboy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tomboy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tomboy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tomboy.wav.
Cite this entry: “tomboy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tomboy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.