whipping boy

English

First recorded in 1647.

whipping boy (plural whipping boys)

(historical) A boy that was whipped in the stead of a misbehaving prince.
As the whipping boy, he must take the whippings for the royal heir, Prince Brat.
(transferred sense) Someone punished for the errors of others.
Synonyms: scapegoat; see also Thesaurus:scapegoat

Coordinate term: whipping girl

someone punished for the errors of others

Armenian: մտրակող տղա (mtrakoġ tġa)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 替罪羊 (zh) (tìzuìyáng)
Danish: piske dreng
Dutch: zondebok (nl) m
Esperanto: vipanta knabon
Finnish: syntipukki (fi)
French: lampiste (fr) m or f, pigeon (fr) m, souffre-douleur (fr)
German: Prügelknabe (de) m
Hebrew: נער מלקות m (náar malkót)
Hungarian: pofozógép (hu), bűnbak (hu)
Italian: capro espiatorio (it) m
Latin: plāgipatida m
Polish: chłopiec do bicia m
Portuguese: bode expiatório (pt) m
Romanian: țap ispășitor (ro) m
Russian: ма́льчик для битья́ (ru) m (málʹčik dlja bitʹjá), козёл отпуще́ния m (kozjól otpuščénija); крайний (ru) m (krajnij), стре́лочник (ru) m (stréločnik)
Spanish: chivo expiatorio (es) m
Swedish: strykpojke (sv) c, strykgosse (sv) c

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