Boy once meant servant—and later a racial slur
A boy is a young male human, from birth through adolescence, until adulthood makes him a man. The Middle English word boi meant both boy and servant, and from 1821 in the United States and South Africa it was also turned against grown men of colour to imply they were subservient.
The exact origin is obscure, but the English and Frisian forms probably come from an Anglo-Frisian word meaning little brother, a diminutive of a Germanic root for brother or male relative that reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European term for father or brother. Relatives include Norwegian dialect boa, brother, Dutch boef, a rogue, and German Bube, meaning knave or boy. The word may also be linked to Bōia, an Anglo-Saxon personal name.
The demeaning use lingered. Thomas Branch, an early African-American Seventh-day Adventist missionary in what is now Malawi, called his adult students boys in his reports. Politicians including New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Kentucky congressman Geoff Davis drew public criticism for calling Black men boy. Promoting his 2017 bout with Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor told him to dance for me, boy, and boxers including Mayweather and Andre Ward accused him of racism.
Biologically, a sperm carrying a Y chromosome typically produces a boy. At six to seven weeks of gestation a Y-chromosome gene triggers testis formation, and around nine weeks the embryo's testosterone shapes the male reproductive system. Boys usually start puberty at 11 or 12 and finish at 16 or 17, with a first ejaculation at about 13 on average, as testosterone deepens the voice, enlarges the Adam's apple, broadens the shoulders and adds muscle and body hair.
Boys' peer groups set norms that count for more than simple membership, and boys who defy gender norms face higher risks of abuse and depression. Worldwide, 88 million child labourers are boys against 64 million girls, and boys made up about 87 percent of young workers killed on the job in the United States between 2003 and 2016.
Source: Boy
