Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a male African servant.

1978		Het Suid-Western 2 Aug. n.p.: The days when you glibly talked about ‘kaffirs’ and ‘hotnots’ are over in South Africa. The same goes for ‘boytjie’, ‘the girl’ when you mean your domestic [...] and all the rest of those derogatory appellations [DSAE].
1986		S. Sepamla Third Generation 128: ‘You will have to speak the truth, boykie! Hear me?’ Solly remained quiet not knowing what to say.

2. a generally affectionate term for a male, fellow, chap, ‘bloke’.

1974		A. Brink Looking on Darkness 222: You Cape boytjies are softies. But we’ll get you right, don’t worry.
1983		Financial Mail 29 July 29: Frankly, there are going to be those in the business community who will wonder after all this shooting from the hip talk about the ‘boykie from Brits’ [DSAE].
1994		R. Malan in Sidelines Dec. 29: Testosterone-crazed boykies from the W and AWB [DSAE].
1996		CyberBraai Lex. at www.matriots.com 🌐 BOYKIE: Literally (little boy), this is what legions of South African parents call their male kids. With ‘Basie’ (little big man), it is a nickname that has stuck to many South Africans into adulthood.
2008		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 17 Oct. 🌐 The boykie to take the rind off their pork swords was the young shpeherd lad, David.
2010		IOL News (Western Cape) 20 Jan. 🌐 He is boyishly good-looking [...] but probably what knocks everyone sideways is the sincerity of this local boykie.