boba

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Bubble tea

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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”).

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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, 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, 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?)

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

• abob, boab

boba

1. father

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”).

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: bo‧ba

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.

• “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.

• bobba, bobbia

Perhaps of Slavic origin.

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

boba f (plural bobe)

1. slime, slush

   Synonyms: melma, poltiglia

2. pigswill, slop

   Synonyms: brodaglia, sbobba

3. (figurative) verbose, nonsensical writing

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

boba

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぼば

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

bóba f stress pattern 1

1. old woman
2. woman
3. wife

• 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

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

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

boba

1. toy
2. flower

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

• IPA^(key):

boba

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

boba

1. feminine singular of bobo

boba (Cyrillic spelling боба)

1. genitive singular of bob

• IPA^(key): /ˈboba/
• Rhymes: -oba
• Syllabification: bo‧ba

See bobo.

boba

1. feminine singular of bobo

boba

1. female equivalent of bobo

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

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?

“boba”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Borrowed from Spanish boba.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈboba/
• Rhymes: -oba
• Syllabification: bo‧ba

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:

     "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)

boba (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜊ)

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈbo.ba/

boba

1. (stative) to call, summon

   boba ti baba ― call your father

• buba

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎, Pacific linguistics