"Teddy boy" meaning in English

See Teddy boy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: Teddy boys [plural], teddy boy [alternative]
Etymology: From Teddy (“Edward”), from their style of clothing, reminiscent of the Edwardian era. Head templates: {{en-noun}} Teddy boy (plural Teddy boys)
  1. (historical) A member of a male youth culture which originated in London in the early 1950s, later associated with American rock and roll music. Tags: historical Synonyms: Ted Translations (member of male youth culture): jampec (Hungarian), Teddy boy [masculine] (Polish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From Teddy (“Edward”), from their style of clothing, reminiscent of the Edwardian era.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Teddy boys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "teddy boy",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Teddy boy (plural Teddy boys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 1953",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Male people",
          "orig": "en:Male people",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              109,
              118
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991 April 6, Ron Caldwell, “Kind of Stranger”, in Gay Community News, page 16:",
          "text": "Mitch (Precious Pearl) is a smooth, impassive young man utterly dripping with the ambivalent sensuality of a teddy-boy in tap shoes.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A member of a male youth culture which originated in London in the early 1950s, later associated with American rock and roll music."
      ],
      "id": "en-Teddy_boy-en-noun-rHijGeSV",
      "links": [
        [
          "youth",
          "youth"
        ],
        [
          "culture",
          "culture"
        ],
        [
          "London",
          "London"
        ],
        [
          "American",
          "American"
        ],
        [
          "rock and roll",
          "rock and roll"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) A member of a male youth culture which originated in London in the early 1950s, later associated with American rock and roll music."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Ted"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "member of male youth culture",
          "word": "jampec"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "member of male youth culture",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Teddy boy"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Teddy boy"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From Teddy (“Edward”), from their style of clothing, reminiscent of the Edwardian era.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Teddy boys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "teddy boy",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Teddy boy (plural Teddy boys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 1953",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English eponyms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "en:Male people"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              109,
              118
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991 April 6, Ron Caldwell, “Kind of Stranger”, in Gay Community News, page 16:",
          "text": "Mitch (Precious Pearl) is a smooth, impassive young man utterly dripping with the ambivalent sensuality of a teddy-boy in tap shoes.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A member of a male youth culture which originated in London in the early 1950s, later associated with American rock and roll music."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "youth",
          "youth"
        ],
        [
          "culture",
          "culture"
        ],
        [
          "London",
          "London"
        ],
        [
          "American",
          "American"
        ],
        [
          "rock and roll",
          "rock and roll"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) A member of a male youth culture which originated in London in the early 1950s, later associated with American rock and roll music."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Ted"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "member of male youth culture",
      "word": "jampec"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "member of male youth culture",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Teddy boy"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Teddy boy"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Teddy boy meaning in English (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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