Etymologically
Log in

playboy

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 06:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpleɪbɔɪ/[1]
  • US: /ˈpleɪˌbɔɪ/[1]

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]
  • 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