っぽい

Level

JLPT N3

Ratings

5/5

Quizzes Mastered

0/10

っぽい

ppoiAdjectival, Description

Yuzuo Chan

11.06.2025

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Meaning

-ish; having the quality or look of N; (with verb stems) tending to do something easily or too often. It is used both for things that are not quite the real thing and for personal tendencies.

Conjugation

N + っぽい (子供こどもっぽい、水みずっぽい): Adjい (drop い) + っぽい (白しろい→白しろっぽい、安やすい→安やすっぽい)

Examples

Show translation

妹いもうとはいつも男おとこの子ことサッカーをしているから、何なんだか男おとこの子こっぽい。

あの車くるまは遠とおくから見みると黒くろっぽいけれど、本当ほんとうは青あおいです。

このお茶ちゃは水みずっぽいね。

このシーツは湿しめっぽい。

朝あさから熱ねつっぽいので、今日きょうは早はやく帰かえります。

父ちちは年としをとってから忘わすれっぽくなった。

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.title

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.wrong: この色いろは白しろいっぽいです。

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.correct: この色いろは白しろっぽいです。

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.why: With い-adjectives, drop the final い before っぽい (白しろい → 白しろっぽい, 安やすい → 安やすっぽい).

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.wrong: 彼かれは怒おこるっぽい人ひとだ。

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.correct: 彼かれは怒おこりっぽい人ひとだ。

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.why: For the 'tends to' meaning, attach っぽい to the ます-stem (怒おこり), not the dictionary form. (Dictionary form + っぽい is only casual slang meaning 'it seems'.)

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.wrong: 元気げんきで子供こどもっぽい笑顔えがおですね。(meant as praise)

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.correct: 元気げんきで子供こどもらしい笑顔えがおですね。

grammarDetailPage.commonMistakes.why: 子供こどもっぽい usually means 'childish' and sounds critical. To praise someone as 'childlike' or 'typical of a child', use らしい or another word instead.

Key points

It is colloquial and often (not always) has a slightly negative or critical nuance (子供こどもっぽい, 安やすっぽい, 水みずっぽい); compare 大人おとなっぽい, which is neutral to positive. Unlike みたい (comparison) and そう (inference from appearance), っぽい describes a characteristic quality or tendency, and it also covers colours that are 'a bit like' something (白しろっぽい, 黒くろっぽい). In casual speech, young people also attach it to plain forms to mean 'it seems' (雨あめが降ふるっぽい), but that is informal and not for writing.

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