Skip to main content
hoyden

hoyden

1 9.9
A lively, bold girl who likes rough play
  • noun
  • /ˈhɔɪdən/
  • Offensive
: marimacho (ofensivo, literario/arcaico)
  • We've not projected her past ten years old, but she's a regular hoyden already.

Examples

  • You asked the identity of that 'glorious hoyden in the sea-green gown' and I replied: 'my wife.'

    Fiction book (2000)
  • I recall one of my governesses telling another that I was an especially late bloomer, and the other replying that it was because I was such a hoyden, running and riding and sneaking off to take exercise with my brother Mimulus and his companion, dear Lord Tadwyl.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • She thinks I'm a hoyden.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Perhaps she looks like Sinjun, but a hoyden like Sinjun?

    Fiction book (2001)
  • She can also be found at Hoyden About Town and Lecta.

    Blog text (26)
  • If it's designs on turning into a hoyden you have, m'girlie, you'd best think again.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • You'll be glad that you're not marrying a hoyden.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The princess, a hoyden of some repute in her own right, was shaking her head in an irritatingly superior way.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • AND I'LL NOT BE RAILED UP BY ANY ROYAL HOYDEN WHO DOES NOT KNOW HER PLACE AND FORGETS THE RESPECT DUE TO HER KING!

  • The young hoyden climbed trees and raced through the fields, leaving her dresses behind in favor of shorts.

Synonyms

tomboy
vshoyden
15 4.1

A girl who likes rough, active play and things usually done by boys

is noisier bolder and more openly unruly in behaviour

How Boisterous

rowdy
34 3.6
hoyden
  • Offensive
1 9.9
tomboy
15 4.1
lively
109 1.3
well behaved
36 1.2

Surface Forms

hoyden singular
hoydens plural

Etymology

Hoyden comes from an old girl's name Hoyden that people used in Middle English for a noisy, rough girl. So today hoyden means a 'boisterous' or 'tomboyish' girl, and you can remember it as a name that turned into a word for a girl who acts 'boyish'.