boba

See also: bộ ba and боба

English

Etymology

From the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 波霸 (bōbà), from Cantonese 波霸 (bo1 baa3, “large breasts, tapioca pearls”), from 波 (bo1) transcribing English ball and 霸 (baa3, “chief, top”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊ.bə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊ.bə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

boba (countable and uncountable, plural bobas)

1. Synonym of tapioca pearl.
   • 2024 September 16, Priya Krishna, “The Customized Drink Is Out of Control”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     She settled on the Chai Frappé Burst, a frozen, blended concoction with whipped cream, boba and cinnamon sugar sprinkles.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. Ellipsis of boba tea.
   • 2021 April 16, Kellen Browning, “Another Unlikely Pandemic Shortage: Boba Tea”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     “I was shocked,” said Leanne Yuen, a longtime boba drinker and a student at the University of California, Irvine. “What am I going to do now?”

     (Can we archive this URL?)

See also

• boba liberal

 

References

• “boba, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Anagrams

• abob, boab

Gagauz

Noun

boba

1. father

Indonesian

boba

Etymology

From English boba, from the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 波霸 (bōbà), from Cantonese 波霸 (bo1 baa3, “large breasts, tapioca pearls”), from 波 (bo1) transcribing English ball and 霸 (baa3, “chief, top”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈboba]
• Hyphenation: bo‧ba

Noun

boba (plural boba-boba, first-person possessive bobaku, second-person possessive bobamu, third-person possessive bobanya)

1. (cooking) boba
   1. tapioca pearl.
   2. boba tea.

Further reading

• “boba” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Alternative forms

• bobba, bobbia

Etymology

Perhaps of Slavic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ.ba/
• Rhymes: -ɔba
• Hyphenation: bò‧ba

Noun

boba f (plural bobe)

1. slime, slush

   Synonyms: melma, poltiglia

2. pigswill, slop

   Synonyms: brodaglia, sbobba

3. (figurative) verbose, nonsensical writing

Further reading

• boba² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Japanese

Romanization

boba

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぼば

Lithuanian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *bā́ˀbāˀ. Cognate with Proto-Slavic *baba (“old woman”).

Noun

bóba f stress pattern 1

1. old woman
2. woman
3. wife

References

• Derksen, Rick (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 32
• “boba”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012

Livvi

Boba (1).

Boba (2).

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbobɑ/
• Hyphenation: bo‧ba
• Rhymes: -obɑ

Noun

boba

1. toy
2. flower

Declension

Declension of boba (Type 2/boba, b-v gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	boba	bovat
genitive	bovan	boviin
partitive	bobua	bobii
illative	bobah	bobiih
inessive	bovas	boviis
elative	bovaspäi	boviispäi
allative	bovale	boviile
adessive	boval	boviil
ablative	bovalpäi	boviilpäi
translative	bovakse	boviikse
essive	bovannu	boviinnu
abessive	bovattah	boviittah
comitative	bovanke	boviinke
instructive		boviin
prolative	bovači

References

• Tatjana Boiko (2019) “boba”, in Suuri Karjal-Venʹalaine Sanakniigu (livvin murreh) [The Big Karelian-Russian dictionary (Livvi dialect)], 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 26

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɔba]

Noun

boba

1. genitive singular of bob
2. nominative dual of bob
3. accusative dual of bob

Portuguese

Adjective

boba

1. feminine singular of bobo

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

boba (Cyrillic spelling боба)

1. genitive singular of bob

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈboba/ [ˈbo.β̞a]
• Rhymes: -oba
• Syllabification: bo‧ba

Etymology 1

See bobo.

Adjective

boba

1. feminine singular of bobo

Noun

boba

1. female equivalent of bobo

Etymology 2

boba (1)

boba (2)

Borrowed from English boba, ultimately from Cantonese 波霸 (bo1 baa3, “large breasts, tapioca pearls”).

Noun

boba m (plural bobas)

1. Synonym of perlas de tapioca
2. Short for té de boba.

   ¿Podemos tomar otro boba?

   Can we have another boba?

Further reading

“boba”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish boba.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈboba/ [ˈboː.bɐ]
• Rhymes: -oba
• Syllabification: bo‧ba

Adjective

boba (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜊ)

1. feminine of bobo: stupid; dumb
   • 2020, Jan Milo Severo, “'It's so fake': Vivian Velez goes viral for comparing Robredo's look to Miss Tapia”, in The Philippine Star‎^[3]:

     "Obviously, they want to make her look smarter (kasi nga boba) with those glasses on and books on the table, not to mention the color choice of her outfit. Ano 'to, shooting? Playing 'the president' daw sya?" she added.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Noun

boba (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜊ)

1. female equivalent of bobo: stupid woman; foolish woman

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbo.ba/

Verb

boba

1. (stative) to call, summon

   boba ti baba ― call your father

Conjugation

Conjugation of boba (stative verb)
		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tiboba	miboba	aboba
2nd person		niboba	fiboba
3rd person	inanimate	iboba	diboba
	animate	maboba
imperative		—, boba	—, boba

Alternative forms

• buba

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[4], Pacific linguistics