っぽい (ppoi) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Like a

The suffix っぽい (then) is joined to nouns, adjectives and verbs and refers to something that looks like or has the tendency to and also expresses those terms ending in English with -ish and -like.

It very often has a negative connotation in the sentence.

In this post, we will look together at how っぽい is formed, how it is combined with the other grammatical elements, and the differences in usage and meaning.

I will, as always, provide sentences in everyday use with っぽい and material from the Internet.

How to form っぽい

っぽい is a suffix in Japanese used mostly in colloquial and informal language.

っぽい is joined to nouns, adjectives and verbs.

The nuance of meaning is different depending on the element to which っぽい is joined; in this post we will look at the various uses in different circumstances.

The new term that is formed with the addition of っぽい becomes grammatically an い Adjective whose adverbial form is っぽく and negative form is っぽくない.

っぽい like A, close to A

っぽい combined with adjectives and nouns comes to express a condition that can be considered close to the situation A for example, but does not exactly coincide with it.

For example I can say:

We can describe 黒(くろ)っぽい as:

• 完(かん)全(ぜん)な黒(くろ)ではない色(いろ): colour not quite black;
• 黒(くろ)に近(ちか)い色(いろ): colour close to black.

An example of common usage is with the adjective 安(やす)い cheap, affordable referring to a price.

• if we say that an object is 安(やす)っぽい it may be that that object also has value, but from our point of view, from how it appears to us it is cheap and often has a negative connotation, synonymous with mediocre.

っぽい I feel that way

っぽい is also used to describe one of our perceptions or sensations that we can translate into Japanese with the phrases:

• そう感(かん)じます "I feel that way";
• そう見(み)えます ‘it looks like that way’.

If I say that I feel 熱(ねつ)っぽい, it means that I have the feeling that I have a fever; I have not yet measured my body temperature, but I am cold, I do not feel well, so I assume that I have a fever.

Expressions used in this form:

• food could be: 油(あぶら)っぽい fat or 水(みず)っぽい watered;
• a colour might appear to us: 黒(くろ)っぽい blackish or ; 白(しろ)っぽい whitish;
• a particular feeling might make us perceive one season or another saying: 春(はる)っぽい, 夏(なつ)っぽい, 秋(あき)っぽい, 冬(ふゆ)っぽい.

I listen to a person speak and from the tone of his voice and the way he expresses himself I get the impression that the person:

• 嘘(うそ)っぽい: is lying;
• 愚(ぐ)痴(ち)っぽい: is prone to complaining, that is petulant.

っぽい having the tendency to

っぽい in this case is joined to a verb and what it expresses is the tendency, the propensity of the subject to repeat, to reiterate an action.

Also in this case it generally expresses situations to which we attribute a negative meaning.

For example, if we say that a person is 忘(わす)れっぽい we mean that the person often forgets things, tends to forget and this aspect becomes a characteristic of that person and can lead to problems.

忘(わす)れっぽい as we said at the beginning of the post is an adjective and can be translated as forgetful, apt to forget.

Other common expressions using the verb are:

• 飽(あ)きっぽい voluble, which tends to get bored and tired of something easily;
• 疲(つか)れっぽい person who tends to get tired, who gets tired easily;
• 惚(ほ)れっぽい means 惚(ほ)れやすい a person who tends to fall in love easily.

っぽい like a..., as a ...

っぽい is also used as a synonym for のようだ: is like, behaves like.

Common expressions of this usage of っぽい are:

• 大人(おとな)っぽいメイク: adult make-up (make-up that makes you look like an adult);
• 子(こ)供(ども)っぽい態(たい)度(ど): a childish behaviour (refers to an adult person behaving like a child).

From a publication on design:

...

Other examples of っぽい

From the Internet, speaking of celebrities: stage name or original name?

Here is at the end of this post, the title of an article dealing with the subject of boredom: the personality of people 性(せい)格(かく) who tend to bore easily 飽(あ)きっぽい, how to improve this condition 改(かい)善(ぜん)方(ほう)法(ほう), the causes 原(げん)因(いん) and the benefits メリット.