overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tomboy.

A girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtɒm.bɔɪ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈtɑm.bɔɪ/General-American
  1. A girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner.

    His sister, his dearest and only playmate, is a tomboy at heart.
  2. A rude, boisterous boy.

    obsolete
  3. An immodest or bold woman.

    obsolete
  4. A butch lesbian.

    Philippines · colloquial
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Aramaic תאמא Aramaic תאומאbor. Ancient Greek Θωμᾶς (Thōmâs)bor. Latin Thōmāsbor. Middle English Thomas Middle English Thomme English Tom English tom Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō- Proto-West Germanic *bōjō Old English *bōia Middle English boye English boy English tomboy From tom + boy. First attested in Ralph Roister Doister (published 1567, written circa 1552), where it is used to describe a boisterous girl; the OED says the citation is however "generally taken" to mean a boisterous boy, and says that a use in The Old Law (published 1656, thought to have been written circa 1599) "certainly" means a boy: "must young court-tits / play tomboys' tricks with her?" By 1579 it was attested in the meaning "an immodest woman", and by no later than 1592 it had developed its modern meaning of a “girl who acts like a boy”.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

tomboy has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

tomboy studiotomboy workshello, tomboy

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.