おっぱい

Japanese

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly from おおう (ōu, “to cover”) +‎ まい (mai, “not”), or from おなか (onaka, “abdomen”) +‎ いっぱい (ippai, “a lot”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) お​っぱい [óꜜppàì] (Atamadaka - [1])
• IPA^(key): [o̞p̚pa̠i]

Noun

おっぱい (katakana オッパイ, rōmaji oppai)

1. (childish) milk (liquid)

   Synonyms: 乳 (ち) (chi), 乳 (ちち) (chichi)

2. (anatomy, childish) boobies, titties (breasts)

   Synonyms: 乳 (ち) (chi), 乳 (ちち) (chichi), 乳 (ち)袋 (ぶくろ) (chibukuro), 乳 (ち)房 (ぶさ) (chibusa), 胸 (むね) (mune), パイオツ (paiotsu)

   Hyponyms: デカチチ (dekachichi)

   • 2000 August 10, Andō, Yūma; Asaki, Masashi, “喧けん嘩か屋や　国くに光みつ [Kunimitsu, Brawl Delivery]”, in サイコメトラーEIJIエイジ [Psychometrer EIJI], volume 24 (fiction, in Japanese), Tokyo: Kodansha, ISBN 4-06-312869-5:

     キャサリーン！オッパイ　大 (おお)きくなれよぉー！

     Kyasarīn! Oppai ōkikunareyōo!

     Katharine! Your boobs! Grow them bigger, okay⁉

Usage notes

• This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as オッパイ.