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A boy is a young male human, usually a child or adolescent. When he becomes an adult, he is described as a man. The most apparent difference between a boy and a girl is that a boy typically has a penis while girls have a vagina. However, some intersex children with ambiguous genitals, and genetically female transgender children may also be classified or self-identify as a boy. The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both. The latter most commonly applies to adult men, either considered in some way immature or inferior, in a position associated with aspects of boyhood, or even without such boyish connotation as age-indiscriminate synonym. The term can be joined with a variety of other words to form these gender-related labels as compound words. ==Etymology== The word "boy" comes from Middle English ''boi, boye'' ("boy, servant"), related to other Germanic words for ''boy'', namely East Frisian ''boi'' ("boy, young man") and West Frisian ''boai'' ("boy"). Although the exact etymology is obscure, the English and Frisian forms probably derive from an earlier Anglo-Frisian *''bō-ja'' ("little brother"), a diminutive of the Germanic root *''bō-'' ("brother, male relation"), from Proto-Indo-European *''bhā-'', *''bhāt-'' ("father, brother"). The root is also found in Flemish ''boe'' ("brother"), Norwegian dialectal ''boa'' ("brother"), and, through a reduplicated variant *''bō-bō-'', in Old Norse ''bófi'', Dutch ''boef'' "(criminal) knave, rogue", German ''Bube'' ("knave, rogue, boy"). Furthermore, the word may be related to ''Bōia'', an Anglo-Saxon personal name. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Boy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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