playboy

Etymology

It is formed from English play + boy.^[2][3][4][5] The OED takes the first part as the noun, Etymonline as the verb.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A boy actor: 1616, in Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored;^[2] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1620–30 and Etymonline to the 1620s, when it meant a schoolboy actor.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense "boy actor" is not recorded after 1631.^[2] The modern sense, a man, usually a rich one, who lives for pleasure, was originally Irish English and is first recorded in 1829, in Gerald Griffin's The Collegians.^[2][6][5] According to Hendrickson, the word was later revived in New York about 1900 for a man about town,^[7] and the Collegiate Merriam-Webster dates its own sense to 1907.^[8] Playboy became the name of an American men's magazine in December 1953.^[5] The verb, to act like a playboy, often playboy around, is recorded from 1950,^[2] and the feminine playgirl by 1934.^[5] Merriam-Webster also records a British dialect sense, a tricky, untrustworthy person,^[6] and in British slang Playboy is a kind of ecstasy tablet.^[9]

Timeline

• 1616 – a boy actor (obsolete by 1631).^[2]
• 1829 – in Irish English, a man who lives a life of pleasure.^[2][6]
• 1934 – playgirl.^[5]
• 1950 – verb, to act like a playboy.^[2]
• 1953 – Playboy, the American magazine.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A man, typically a wealthy one, who devotes his life to pleasure, often irresponsibly or with many sexual partners: He spent his inheritance living as a playboy on the Riviera.^{[10][6][2][3]}
2. (British dialect) A tricky, untrustworthy person.^[6]

Verb

1. To behave like a playboy, often with around.^[2]

Related words

• playgirl

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins