Boyhood

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbɔɪˌhʊd/

Definitions

1. The state or period of being a male child from birth until reaching adulthood
2. The early years of male development from infancy through adolescence before maturity is reached
3. The stage of life during which a male person grows from childhood toward adulthood

Etymology: "Boyhood" is a plain compound: "boy" plus the suffix "-hood," which English uses to mark a state, condition, or period of life. The suffix comes from Old English "-hād," meaning rank, condition, or state, a word that also survives in "knighthood" and "childhood." Its Old English relative is a noun with the same sense of status or rank, so "boyhood" is literally the state of being a boy. The base word "boy" has a more tangled history. Old English "bōia" was a term for a servant or a male of low status rather than a child, and it may be connected to the Old English "bōi" used for a slave. In the Middle English period it began to be applied to young males in general, and that shift in meaning is what gave "boyhood" its later sense of youth, and eventually the stage between infancy and adulthood.

Synonyms: youth, childhood, adolescence, boyishness, juvenility

Antonyms: adulthood, maturity, manhood, maturity, age