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”).

boba (countable and uncountable, plural bobas)

1. Synonym of tapioca pearl.
2. Short for boba tea.

• “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): [ˈboba]
• 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: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic 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 (genitive bovan, partitive bobua)

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): [ˈbɔba]

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

boba

1. feminine singular of bobo

Borrowed from Spanish boba.

• Hyphenation: bo‧ba
• IPA^(key): /ˈboba/, [ˈbo.bɐ]

boba (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜊ)

1. feminine of bobo: stupid; dumb
   • 2020, Severo, Jan Milo, “'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 quote)

boba (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜊ)

1. feminine 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