fboi
Fboi is a texting spelling of f---boy, an insult for a man who chases sex or attention while avoiding commitment, often by leading people on. It is rude.
By Cal Hewitt, Gen X · Researched from public sources · ·
What it means
Calling a guy an fboi says he is after sex or attention and has no plan to commit, and that he gets there by charm, mixed signals or saying what people want to hear. Dictionary.com defines the full word as a man who is often seductive but untrustworthy, treats women in a self-serving and disrespectful way, and avoids commitment, and it labels the word vulgar, disparaging and offensive. Cyberdefinitions adds that it often implies he is dishonest in how he dates. The charge is the dishonesty. A single guy who dates around and is upfront about it is a player at most; the fboi is the one who acts like he wants something real and then disappears, or treats a partner as disposable. The word can suggest he is attractive or good with people, but that is part of the complaint: he is using the appeal to get what he wants. Said to him directly, it is an accusation. Said about him to a friend, it is usually a warning or a read on his pattern. It also turns up as a joke, and some men wear it as a label, which MEL Magazine traced in its 2021 look at the HBO Max show FBOY Island. The fboi spelling just keeps the swear off the screen; it means the same thing as the full word.
See the quick definition in the fboi dictionary entry.
How to use it
“he's an fboi, don't fall for it”
Said about a guy to a friend. A warning that he is not serious.
“said he wanted a relationship then left me on read for a week. fboi behavior”
The mismatch between what he said and what he did is the whole point of the word.
“you're being such an fboi rn”
Said to him directly. An accusation, even between friends.
“reformed fboi era”
A joke or self-description. Light in tone, but the label itself is still negative.
Where it came from
Fboi is a shortened spelling of f---boy, a compound of the swear and "boy", and the longer word is decades older than its dating sense. Strong Language reports that G. Gordon Liddy's 1980 memoir Will describes a prisoner who could be bought with cartons of cigarettes for sex, called by this word, and that Jesse Sheidlower's The F-Word cites the related "screw-boy" from 1954. Dictionary.com dates the word's first record to 1985 to 1990. Strong Language also finds David Letterman calling himself one in a 1996 Vanity Fair piece, and a 2000 Usenet post using the "boi" spelling as a general put-down.
Hip-hop made it widely known. Dictionary.com points to Cam'ron's 2002 song "Boy Boy", where the word meant a weak loser who is not conventionally masculine, and Vice notes Petey Pablo using it in 2003. The first Urban Dictionary entry, from a user named bretb on December 29, 2004, defines it the same way. Cam'ron is often credited with popularizing it; no single coiner is documented.
The dating sense took over on Tumblr. Know Your Meme records an October 2013 post that pinned "Once a f---boy, always a f---boy" on Mother Teresa, the "En Garde" skeleton image of April 2014, and a September 2014 list of "symptoms" that passed 165,000 notes in two days. Run the Jewels used the word in a song that same month, and HBO Max premiered FBOY Island in July 2021, putting the cleaned-up spelling in a show title.
No single person is credited, the origin is commonly reported.
Where it's popular
General English-language use in texts, DMs, dating apps and comment sections, among teenagers and adults. It is not tied to a region.
On TikTok the #fboi tag also collects femboy content, a different word that happens to share the spelling.
How it caught on
- 1980G. Gordon Liddy's memoir Will records the word in prison slang for a prisoner bought for sex, as reported by Strong Language.
- 1985 to 1990Dictionary.com's date range for the word's first record.
- 1996David Letterman calls himself one in Vanity Fair, as a self-deprecating put-down.
- 2002Cam'ron uses the word in "Boy Boy" for a weak loser, the hip-hop sense.
- December 29, 2004The first Urban Dictionary entry, submitted by bretb.
- October 23, 2013A Tumblr post falsely credits "Once a f---boy, always a f---boy" to Mother Teresa.
- September 2014A Tumblr list of f---boy "symptoms" goes viral, and Run the Jewels release "Oh My Darling Don't Cry" with the word in it.
- July 29, 2021HBO Max premieres FBOY Island, a dating show built on the sanitized spelling.
Test yourself
Can you read an fboi?
0/21. Your friend texts "he's an fboi" about a guy she met. What is she telling you?
2. What separates an fboi from a player?
Related slang
Questions people ask
What does "boy" mean in fboi?
It belittles him. The word is aimed at grown men, and "boy" frames him as immature or small. In the hip-hop use Dictionary.com traces to Cam'ron in 2002, it meant a weak loser, and that put-down is still in there.
What does fboi mean in a text or chat?
The same as anywhere: f---boy, a man who chases sex or attention and avoids commitment. The short spelling makes it look less crude on a screen and leaves the meaning exactly as it was.
Is an fboi just a player?
No. A player dates more than one person and may be honest about it. Calling someone an fboi adds dishonesty and disrespect: mixed signals, promises he does not keep, or leading someone on.
Is being called an fboi a compliment?
No. It can hint that he is attractive or smooth, but Dictionary.com labels the word vulgar, disparaging and offensive, and the point of it is that he uses that charm while being untrustworthy.
Is fboi rude?
Yes. It is a shortened swear with a sexual root, so it does not belong at work, at school or in formal writing, and aimed at a specific person it lands as a personal accusation.
What does FBOI mean in finance?
In capitals in a banking context, FBOI can stand for First Bank of Internet, according to Abbreviation Finder. A message about a guy means the slang.
A 2013 Tumblr post that falsely credited "Once a f---boy, always a f---boy" to Mother Teresa passed 81,000 notes, according to Know Your Meme.
- https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fuckboy
- https://www.dictionary.com/culture/slang/fuckboy
- https://www.cyberdefinitions.com/definitions/FBOI.html
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/uk/dictionary/english/fuckboy
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fuckboy
- https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2021/08/05/wtf-are-the-fboys-in-fboy-island/
- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fuckboy
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-fuckboys-au/
- https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/fboy-island-hbomax
- https://www.abbreviationfinder.org/acronyms/fboi.html
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