Boyfriend would imply male. Partner would mean of unspecified gender. Edit: In modern usage PARTNER allows the speaker or questioner to allow the possibility of a same sex "other half". Edit 2 Boyfriend would definitely imply unmarried. While a PARTNER could also be a married partner.

Apart from gender neutrality for partner, boyfriend is pretty high school stuff but partner is more solid and serious!

As others have said 'boyfriend' is always male, while 'partner' does not specify gender. Also 'partner' implies a greater sharing of each others lives, the lives of partners tend to be closely entwined

As others have said, a "boyfriend" implies the following: a. a male person b. a romantic relationship, c. but not married ("husband") and not engaged ("fiancé"). By comparison, "partner" implies the following: a. any gender b. some type of relationship. Depending on the context, it could be a romantic relationship, a formal business arrangement such as co-owners of a business, a collaboration between two artists, or any other type of cooperative activity between two or more people. In the present day "partner" without qualification typically implies a committed romantic relationship without specifying whether the commitment includes being engaged or being married. If the person is not a romantic partner then we usually identify the type of relationship by saying something like "business partner", "law partner", "artistic partner", or using a different word such as "colleague".

Hi Anastasia :) partner is more general we can use that for anyone with whom we have partnership, any kind of partnership, any gender. life partner , business partner , language partner (which you can find in italki!😉) Etc...