Femboy
slang term used to refer to a feminine male
Femboy ( ) is a slang term that typically refers to young, male individuals who express themselves with traditionally feminine characteristics, or—in the variant spelling femboi—to young trans men or butch lesbians. As an Internet aesthetic, this may be through the use of jewellery, wearing feminine clothing and makeup, or expressing feminine behavioural qualities. Femboy can be used as both a sexual and non-sexual term; it does not denote a specific sexual orientation or gender role.
The term originated in the 1990s. It has since been popularised through internet forums and social media, starting on 4chan and expanding to other sites such as Reddit and TikTok, where hashtag trends such as "#femboyfriday" have received attention in the media. In porn studies, the term has been seen as an identifier for a submissive role in intercourse and as exhibiting elements of sexual fantasy.
Usage
Etymology
According to Dictionary.com, the term femboy originated at least in the 1990s. It is a compound noun from the words fem (an abbreviation of feminine and femme) and boy. However, one early usage can be found in the 1981 release of the Abbreviations Dictionary by editor and photographer Ralph De Sola. The variant femboi uses the LGBTQ term boi.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Femboy” as slang term used to refer to a feminine male. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as slang term used to refer to a feminine male. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q42417393. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1981.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Femboy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.