Etymology

From rat +‎ boyCategory:English compound terms#RATBOY. Coined by fans as a humorous reference to the character's amoral and duplicitous nature.^[1] Popularized on alt.tv.x-files, the main Usenet newsgroup for the show,^[2] where it is first attested in 1994.

Proper noun

RatboyCategory:English lemmas#RATBOYCategory:English proper nouns#RATBOYCategory:English uncountable nouns#RATBOYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#RATBOYCategory:Pages with entries#RATBOYCategory:Pages with 1 entry#RATBOY

1. (The X-Files fandom slangCategory:English fandom slang#RATBOY) The fictional character Alex Krycek from The X-Files.
   • 1996, Susan J. Clerc, “DDEB, GATB, MPPB, and Ratboy”, in David Lavery, Angela Hague, Marla Cartwright, editors, Deny All knowledge: Reading the X-files, page 37:

     Do you know who Ratboy is?

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   • 2014, Deborah Kaplan, “Construction of Fan Fiction Character Through Narrative”, in Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse, editors, Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet‎, page 143:

     But this Krycek—self-consciously multivoiced, focalizing as a fan reader through his obsession with Mulder, Ratboy yet sympathetically damaged—is carefully constructed as a recognizable source character interpreted in a new light.

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   • 2016, Natalie Clubb, The X-Files: The Official Collection - The Agents, The Bureau, and The Syndicate‎, page 144:

     Given his credentials, Ratboy seems like the perfect candidate for the job.

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   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Ratboy.

References