boyfriend
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A male partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
boyfrendSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɔɪfɹɛnd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A male partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.
A male friend.
often attributively
A style of women's clothing that draws heavily from corresponding men's garments.ᵂⁱᵏⁱᵖᵉᵈⁱᵃ
verb
To have (someone) as a boyfriend.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A male partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.
Used this way, boyfriend is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use boyfriend
- “If I'd known he was her boyfriend I wouldn't have asked.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A man who is no longer a woman's boyfriend.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: male partner in an unmarried romantic relationship
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “boyfriend” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.