boob
へま
解説 Definition
「boob」は、主に女性の乳房を指す口語的・俗語的な名詞です。非公式な会話や軽い文脈で使われることが多く、フォーマルな場面では適切ではありません。また、英国英語では「失敗」や「へま」を意味する場合もあります。
A boob is an informal, chiefly British term for a foolish or embarrassing mistake. The word can also call a person stupid, and it has a separate vulgar slang sense referring to a breast, so its use requires careful attention to context and register.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
ここでは身体部位ではなく、主に英語圏で使われるくだけた「へま・ばかな間違い」。make a boob のように、うっかり名前を忘れるなど人前で恥をかく失敗を思い浮かべる。mistake より口語的で、人を boob と呼べば「間抜け」という侮蔑にもなるため、正式な場面では blunder や mistake が安全。
For this entry, remember boob as a foolish mistake or embarrassing blunder. Picture a performer making an obvious error during a live show and trying to laugh it off afterward. That context separates the intended sense from the common vulgar slang use referring to a breast. The word can also describe a foolish person, which reflects its older association with stupidity. Because boob is informal and can sound dated or ambiguous, mistake, blunder, or error is usually safer in formal speech and writing. Learn it with phrases such as make a boob, while recognizing that many speakers may understand another slang meaning first.
例文
The comedian made a boob during the live performance that embarrassed the whole crew.
そのコメディアンは生放送中にへまをやらかして、スタッフ全員を恥ずかしい思いにさせた。
She laughed it off as just another boob she had made that week.
彼女はその週にまたやらかしてしまったへまだと笑い飛ばした。
Don't make a boob of yourself by forgetting the client's name again.
また得意先の名前を忘れてしまって、みっともない思いをしないようにね。
boob の類義語・関連語
対義語
派生語
紛らわしい語
boob の語源・成り立ち Etymology
スペイン語 bobo（愚か者）からの借用で、ラテン語 balbus（吃音の）に遡る。元は「間抜け」の意味で、身体部位の俗語用法は20世紀の米俗語から派生。関連語: booby（カツオドリ＝間抜けな鳥）、booby trap。
In its older senses of “fool” and “foolish mistake,” boob is related to booby and was borrowed from Spanish bobo, “foolish” or “a fool.” Spanish bobo is commonly traced to Latin balbus, meaning “stammering.” English later developed boob as a term for a blunder. The anatomical slang sense arose separately within modern slang and became especially common in American English, so present-day context is essential when interpreting the word.
同じレベルの英単語をもっと
外部辞書で調べる
この単語を英単語クイズで覚えよう