男の子 vs 男のコ are they the same?


On Denshi Jisho looking up "おとこのこ" brings up two results:

男の子 and 男のコ

Edit: (child not boy)

I read the first one literally as "Male [possesive] child" or "Male's child"
(or maybe の here is not a particle, just part of the word). The second one is
strange. They have the same definition. Why do we have a Katakana コ here?




Why in the world Denshi Jisho has both of those options, I don't know. If it
was anywhere else, I'd just say that the katakana version is someone writing
男の子 somewhat creatively. In any case, they mean the same thing. However, の
here is -not- possessive, it's a kind of adnominal thing (though it is a
particle) - the phrase means 'male child' or 'boy'. You can use の both for
possession and for description - for description, の is often interchangeable
with である.




Why in the world Denshi Jisho has both of those options, I don't know. If it
was anywhere else, I'd just say that the katakana version is someone writing
男の子 somewhat creatively. In any case, they mean the same thing. However, の
here is -not- possessive, it's a kind of adnominal thing (though it is a
particle) - the phrase means 'male child' or 'boy'. You can use の both for
possession and for description - for description, の is often interchangeable
with である.

