English edit

Etymology edit

From boy +‎ -ness.

Noun edit

boyness (uncountable)

  1. The state or condition of being a boy; masculinity, boyhood.
    • 1988, Donal A Carbaugh, Talking American: Cultural Discourses on Donahue, page 9:
      What is it to be a boy in the scouts? What resources of communication give expression to boyness?
    • 2014 July 27, Clare Brennan, The Observer[1]:
      Evelyn Hoskins distils boyness from wide-eyed wonder and swaggering assurance.
    • 2018 January 2, Emily Willingham, “The non-binary brain”, in Aeon:
      I wished for boyness because the boys did so many things I wanted to do and was excluded from doing because I was a girl.

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