boba
/ˈboʊ.bə/noun
boba is spelled B-O-B-A: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, boba means “Synonym of tapioca pearl” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of boba is bobas.
How many letters and syllables are in boba?
| Letters | 4: B-O-B-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is boba?
Boba appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce boba?
- US /ˈboʊ.bə/
- UK /ˈbəʊ.bə/
Boba has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-boba.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with boba?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as boba from its last stressed vowel (/oʊbə/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: boab.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of boba
- bobas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does boba mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Synonym of tapioca pearl.
- 2
Ellipsis of boba tea.
- 3
colloquialslangA breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent female human.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does boba come from?
From Chinese 波霸 (bōbà), from Cantonese 波霸 (bo1 baa3, “tapioca pearls” [literally: “big balls]”), from 波 (bo1) (itself from English ball) and 霸 (baa3, “chief, top”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).