Editing Tomboy (section)

==Origins==
[[File:John George Brown - The Tomboy.jpg|thumb|''The Tomboy'', 1873 painting by [[John George Brown]]]]
The word "tomboy" is a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound word]] which combines "tom" with "boy". Though this word is now used to refer to "boy-like girls", the etymology suggests the meaning of tomboy has changed drastically over time.<ref name="king"/>

In 1533, according to the ''Oxford Dictionary of English'', "tomboy" was used to mean a "rude, boisterous or forward boy". By the 1570s, however,  "tomboy” had taken on the meaning of a "bold or immodest woman", finally, in the late 1590s and early 1600s, the term morphed into its current meaning: "a girl who behaves like a spirited or boisterous boy; a wild romping girl."<ref name="Abate-2015">{{Cite web |last=Abate |first=Michelle Ann |date=2015-06-04 |title=Tomboy |url=https://keywords.nyupress.org/childrens-literature/essay/tomboy/ |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=Keywords |language=en-US}}</ref>