っぽい

The suffix っぽい attaches to nouns, adjective stems, and verb stems to express that something resembles, has the quality of, or tends toward something. It conjugates as a regular い-adjective (っぽくない, っぽかった, etc.).

Noun + っぽい – "like ~", "-ish"

When attached to a noun, っぽい means something looks like, feels like, or has the qualities of that noun. It often implies the resemblance is superficial – the thing is not actually that noun but gives off that impression.

Common words: こどもっぽい子供っぽい (childish), おとこっぽい男っぽい (manly/masculine), おんなっぽい女っぽい (feminine), みずっぽい水っぽい (watery), ほこりっぽい埃っぽい (dusty)

Adjective stem + っぽい – "somewhat ~", "-ish"

When attached to the stem of an い-adjective (remove い), っぽい conveys that something is somewhat or -ish in that quality. This often carries a slightly negative or cheap connotation.

Common words: やすっぽい安っぽい (cheap-looking), くろっぽい黒っぽい (blackish/darkish), しろっぽい白っぽい (whitish)

Verb stem + っぽい – "tends to ~", "easily does ~"

When attached to a verb stem (ます-form minus ます), っぽい describes a person who has a tendency to do that action frequently or easily. This usage typically carries a negative nuance.

Common words: わすれっぽい忘れっぽい (forgetful), おこりっぽい怒りっぽい (short-tempered), あきっぽい飽きっぽい (easily bored/fickle), ほれっぽい惚れっぽい (easily falls in love)

Conjugation

Since っぽい is an い-adjective, it follows standard い-adjective conjugation:

• Negative: っぽくない
• Past: っぽかった
• Past negative: っぽくなかった
• Adverbial: っぽく
  むかし昔はあきっぽかった飽きっぽかったけど、いま今はちがう違う。

  I used to get bored easily, but now I'm different.