noun

boba

BOH-buh

Boba (noun) means the chewy tapioca pearls served in the bottom of a sweet tea drink and drunk through a wide straw. Example: “Extra boba, half sugar, please.”

noun

The chewy tapioca pearls served in the bottom of a sweet tea drink and drunk through a wide straw.

"Extra boba, half sugar, please."

"The pearls at the bottom had gone hard, so the boba was disappointing."

The drink itself: a cold, usually milky, sweetened tea containing tapioca pearls or similar toppings.

"We grabbed boba after the film."

"There's a new boba shop opening on the high street."

How to use boba

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA sweet milky tea with chewy balls at the bottom.

When to use it

'Boba' is the usual word on the US West Coast and increasingly worldwide; 'bubble tea' is more common in the UK, Canada and Australia. Both are informal and interchangeable.

Memory tip

Boba works both as the topping and as the whole drink, so 'a boba with extra boba' is perfectly normal speech.

Trace the full origin ↓

Easily confused with

bubble tea popping boba tapioca →

Common pairings

boba tea boba shop brown sugar boba order boba get boba

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Test yourself on “boba” A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage →

Fill the gap

Can you complete this real example?

Extra _____, half sugar, please.

Etymology

From Chinese 波霸 (bōbà), a slang term whose use for the large tapioca pearls carried over into English.

Origin: Chinese

Synonyms

View more →

tapioca pearls pearls bubble tea pearl milk tea BBT

Rhymes for boba

soba Manitoba

See all rhymes for boba →

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between boba and bubble tea?

They usually mean the same drink. Strictly, boba refers to the tapioca pearls and bubble tea to the beverage, but in everyday speech either word covers both. Which one you hear depends mostly on where you are.

What is boba made of?

The pearls are made from tapioca starch, which comes from the cassava root, boiled until chewy and then soaked in sugar syrup. They have almost no flavour of their own beyond the sweetness they absorb.

Is popping boba the same as regular boba?

No. Popping boba are thin-skinned spheres filled with fruit juice that burst in your mouth, made using a gelling process rather than tapioca. Regular boba are solid and chewy throughout.

What is the meaning of boba?

"boba" (noun) means the chewy tapioca pearls served in the bottom of a sweet tea drink and drunk through a wide straw.