tomboyishness

1 7.5

A girl or young woman who acts like a boy and likes rough play and sports

noun
/ˈtɑmˌbɔɪɪʃnəs/

: tomboyismo

Many admire her tomboyishness and confidence.

Examples

Her tomboyishness was evident from her love of football and climbing trees.
Her tomboyishness made her stand out among her peers.
Many people encouraged her tomboyishness rather than making her conform to traditional gender roles.
The teacher admired the girl's tomboyishness and confidence in sports.
Her tomboyishness was evident when she chose to play soccer instead of going to a tea party.
Despite her tomboyishness, she also enjoyed wearing dresses on special occasions.
His tomboyishness set her apart from the other girls, who preferred more traditional activities.

Synonyms

boyishness

vstomboyishness

1 3.9

A playful, young way of looking or acting like a boy

is used for girls acting like boys rather than general male traits

hoydenism

vstomboyishness

Offensive

9.9

Noisy, rough behavior in a girl or young woman who acts like a boy

is similar but without the boisterous or rough emphasis

Antonyms

femininity

25 3.4

A set of qualities often seen in women, like gentleness and grace

How Tomboyish

boyishness

1 3.9

tomboyishness

1 7.5

girlishness

1 5.1

Surface Forms

tomboyishness singular

tomboyishnesses plural

Morphology

tomboyishness = tomboyish (transparent) = tomboy + ish + ness

Formed from the adjective 'tomboyish' (tomboy + -ish) with the productive nominalizing suffix '-ness', so the meaning is directly the state of being like a tomboy.

Etymology

Tomboyishness comes from the word tomboy plus the endings -ish and -ness. Tomboy originally named a girl who acted like a boy (one popular story says 'Tom' was used as a bold male name), -ish means 'like' and -ness makes a 'quality', so tomboyishness is the quality of being 'like a boy', which is why it describes a girl who plays rough or loves sports.