buoy

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• boi
  Play
• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbɔɪ/
  Play
• British, Southern, Standard: /ˈboj/
  Play
• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play
• Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈboɪ/
  Play
• Canada, General-American: bo͞o-ē
  Play
• Canada, General-American: boi
  Play
• Canada, General-American: /ˈbu.i/
  Play
• Canada, General-American: /ˈbɔɪ/
  Play
• obsolete: /ˈbwɔɪ/
  Play
• rhymes with -ɔɪ
  Play
• rhymes with -uːi
  Play
• homophone: boy (some accents)
  Play
• CMU ARPABET: B UW1 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  Play

From Middle English boy, boye, from Middle Dutch boeye (“float, buoy”), from Old French boue (“piece of wood or cork that floats above an anchor to indicate where it is anchored”) (modern French bouée), ultimately from Frankish *baukn (“beacon”), from Proto-Germanic *baukną. Doublet of beacon. Alternatively, and perhaps less likely (due to the unexplained shift in meaning), from Middle Dutch boeye (“shackle, fetter”), from Old French buie (“fetter, chain”), from Latin boia (“a (leather) collar, band, fetter”), from Ancient Greek βόεος (bóeos), βόειος (bóeios, “of ox-hide”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”), from Proto-Indo-European *gwṓws (“cow”). Noun sense 2 was coined by American linguist Scott K. Lindell in 2003.

116 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: boei — moored float
• Albanian: bovë — moored float
• Arabic: شَمَنْدُورَة (šamandūra) — moored float
• Arabic: عَوَّامَة (ʕawwāma) — moored float
• Armenian: ծփան (cpʻan) — moored float
• Asturian: boya — moored float
• Azerbaijani: şamandıra — moored float
• Basque: buia — moored float
• Belarusian: буй (buj) — moored float
• Bulgarian: шамандура (šamandura) — moored float
• Bulgarian: буй (buj) — moored float
• Catalan: boia — moored float
• Chinese Mandarin: 浮標 /浮标 (fúbiāo) — moored float
• Czech: bóje — moored float
• Danish: bøje — moored float
• Dutch: boei — moored float
• Esperanto: buo — moored float
• Esperanto: naĝobarelo — moored float
• Estonian: poi — moored float
• Finnish: poiju — moored float
• Finnish: reimari — moored float
• French: bouée — moored float
• French: flotteur — moored float
• French: balise — moored float
• Galician: boia — moored float
• Georgian: ტივტივა (ṭivṭiva) — moored float
• German: Boje — moored float
• German: Tonne — moored float
• Greek: σημαδούρα (simadoúra) — moored float
• Hawaiian: poe — moored float
• Hebrew: מצוף (matzof) — moored float
• Hungarian: bója — moored float
• Icelandic: bauja — moored float
• Icelandic: dufl — moored float
• Ido: boyo — moored float
• Ingrian: veha — moored float
• Ingrian: buju — moored float
• Irish: baoi — moored float
• Italian: boa — moored float
• Japanese: ブイ (bui) — moored float
• Japanese: 浮標 (fuhyō) — moored float
• Korean: 부표 (bupyo) — moored float
• Korean: 부이 (bu'i) — moored float
• Latin: attollo — moored float
• Lithuanian: plūduras — moored float
• Lithuanian: buja — moored float
• Macedonian: пловка (plovka) — moored float
• Malay: pelampung — moored float
• Marshallese: buwae — moored float
• Norman: boule — moored float
• Norman: bondé — moored float
• Norwegian Bokmål: bøye — moored float
• Norwegian Nynorsk: bøye — moored float
• Persian: بویه (boye) — moored float
• Polish: boja — moored float
• Polish: pława — moored float
• Portuguese: boia — moored float
• Romanian: geamandură — moored float
• Russian: буй (buj) — moored float
• Russian: буёк (bujók) — moored float
• Russian: ба́кен (báken) — moored float
• Samoan: poe — moored float
• Serbo-Croatian: plovak — moored float
• Serbo-Croatian: plutača — moored float
• Serbo-Croatian: bova — moored float
• Slovene: boja — moored float
• Lower Sorbian: boja — moored float
• Spanish: boya — moored float
• Swahili: boya — moored float
• Swedish: boj — moored float
• Tagalog: palutang — moored float
• Turkish: şamandıra — moored float
• Ottoman Turkish: شماندره (şamandra, şamandara, şamandıra) — moored float
• Ottoman Turkish: شماندوره (şamandura) — moored float
• Ukrainian: буй (buj) — moored float
• Uyghur: لەيمىلەك (Leymilek) — moored float
• Vietnamese: phao — moored float
• Welsh: bwi — moored float
• Catalan: aboiar — keep afloat or aloft
• Dutch: drijvend houden — keep afloat or aloft
• Dutch: vlottend houden — keep afloat or aloft
• Finnish: pitää pinnalla — keep afloat or aloft
• Finnish: kelluttaa — keep afloat or aloft
• Finnish: pitää ilmassa — keep afloat or aloft
• Finnish: leijuttaa — keep afloat or aloft
• French: surnager — keep afloat or aloft
• German: aufbojen — keep afloat or aloft
• German: flott erhalten — keep afloat or aloft
• German: auf der Wasseroberfläche halten — keep afloat or aloft
• German: über Wasser halten — keep afloat or aloft
• German: tragen — keep afloat or aloft
• Low German: op dat Waterböverflach holen — keep afloat or aloft
• Low German: över Water holen — keep afloat or aloft
• Persian: شناور ماندن (šenâvar mândan) — keep afloat or aloft
• Dutch: stutten — support or maintain at a high level
• Dutch: hoog houden — support or maintain at a high level
• Finnish: tukea — support or maintain at a high level
• German: oben halten — support or maintain at a high level
• German: hoch halten — support or maintain at a high level
• German: aufrechterhalten — support or maintain at a high level
• Low German: baven holen — support or maintain at a high level
• Low German: hooch holen — support or maintain at a high level
• Catalan: aboiar — mark with a buoy
• Dutch: afbakenen — mark with a buoy
• Dutch: markeren — mark with a buoy
• Finnish: merkitä poijulla — mark with a buoy
• Finnish: poijuttaa — mark with a buoy
• German: mit einer Boje markieren — mark with a buoy
• German: mit Bojen markieren — mark with a buoy
• German: ausbojen — mark with a buoy
• German: abbaken — mark with a buoy
• Spanish: aboyar — mark with a buoy
• Finnish: piristää — maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence
• Finnish: rohkaista — maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence
• German: beflügeln — maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence
• Portuguese: sustentar — maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence