Female bringing joy ultimately to boy (4)
I believe the answer is:
lady
'female' is the definition.
(lady is a kind of female)
'joy ultimately to boy' is the wordplay.
'ultimately' says to take the final letters.
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'boy' becomes 'lad' (lad is a kind of boy**).
The final letter of 'joy' is 'y'.
'y' after 'lad' is 'LADY'.
'bringing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for lady that I've seen before include "See 7" , "Peeress" , "Wife of gentleman" , "Female title" , "Woman, of refinement perhaps" .)