Information AboutBoyfriend |
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A boyfriend is a Male partner in a non- Marital Romantic Relationship with another person. The term is more commonly used to describe a boy or a young man than it is used to describe an older person. An older man in a non-marital relationship is sometimes described instead as a '' Significant Other '' or '' Partner '', especially if the two partners are living together. Since ''boyfriend'' and ''partner'' mean different things to different people, the differences between them are subjective, and which term is used in a relationship will ultimately be determined by personal preference. The term is ''not'' used in all of the same contexts as its female equivalent, '' Girlfriend ''. ''Girlfriend'' is sometimes used by women to refer to their non-romantic female friends, but ''boyfriend'', by contrast, is almost never used this way by males, possibly due to cultural Homophobia . It is not to be confused with the similar-sounding term '' Guyfriend '', which is sometimes used by teenagers (most often by girls) to refer to male friends. The word itself is relatively new -- its first usage in print known to the '' Oxford English Dictionary '' is in George W. E. Russell's ''Collections and recollections, by one who has kept a diary'', in 1909 . In the past has had implications of an illicit relationship (as sexual and romantic relationships outside marriage were generally frowned upon). It is now a generally accepted term, however, no longer having negative connotations. An earlier usage in print, dating from July 1889, is discussed in Neil Bartlett, ''Who Was That Man? A Present for Mr Oscar Wilde.'' On pages 109-110, Bartlett quotes from an issue of ''The Artist and Journal of Home Culture'', which refers to Alectryon as "a boyfriend of Mars ." NOTES |
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