houseboy

From house +‎ boy (“young male; (historical or offensive) non-white male servant regardless of age”).[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊsbɔɪ/

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• Hyphenation: house‧boy

houseboy (plural houseboys)

1. (chiefly historical) A young male domestic servant, especially in a British colony in former times.

   Coordinate terms: housegirl, housemaid

   • 1935, Ralph Lionel German, Handbook to British Malaya, 1935, [London]: [R. L. German]: Obtainable from the Malay Information Agency, Waterlow and Sons, →OCLC, page 50:

     House servants are usually either Chinese or Tamil, the former predominating, especially in towns of any size. The domestic staff will in general consist of a houseboy (in large establishments two houseboys), a water carrier (tukang ayer), whose duties include washing dishes and preparing baths, a cook, a gardener, a chauffeur or sais, and perhaps an ayah (if Chinese, amah) or two, according to the size of the family.

   • 1949, Office of International Trade with Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, International Reference Service, volume 6, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 64:

     A married man with a family of three living in a private house will require in most cases a cook, houseboy, an amah (female servant) for washing and ironing, a second amah to take care of small children or infants, and one or possibly two gardeners depending on the size of the lot. A syce (chauffeur) is optional in each individual case. Cooks, houseboys, and amahs are usually Chinese, while gardeners and chauffeurs are Malay.

2. (chiefly historical, derogatory, offensive) A non-white adult male domestic servant.

• houseboi
• house boy
• house-boy

• Chinaboy (obsolete, offensive)

• house slave

• houseboy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From English houseboy.

houseboy

1. an errand boy; a houseboy

   Synonyms: boy, muchacho, mutsatso