Difference between らしい, みたい, っぽい
“らしい”, “みたい”, and “っぽい” are three words that are often used in similar situations but are all slightly different. They all mean “like” or “similar”. There is an overlap between when you may use any of the three but by understanding the subtle difference your ability to express complex situations will become much better.
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The Easiest way to Remember the Differences
Let’s look at one word in English, ‘man-like’. We can translate this to any of the three, “男らしい” “男みたい” “男っぽい”. Now, take the phrase ‘man-like man’, in this case, we would translate it as “男らしい男” or “男っぽい男”. If we wanted to say instead, ‘man-like women’, we would say “男みたいな女” or “男っぽい女”.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/So when we talk about something that has characteristics of something else, ‘man-like women’, you would use “みたい”. If you want to say that something has especially strong characteristics, so ‘man-like man’, you would use “らしい”. Finally, you can use “っぽい” for either situation.
「らしい」for Stereotypical Similarities
Let’s look at the word “男らしい” (man-like) again. A closer world in English would be “manly”. This word means a man has stereotypical masculine traits, physical or for their temperament. “男らしい” means the same thing. “男らしい” like ‘manly’ also is used especially to explain positive male traits.
Another example, “チーターらしい” (Cheetah-like), this would be used to explain a cheetah as having very typical traits we would expect from a cheetah. So if you said, “チーターらしく速く走る” it would mean running fast like a cheetah but can only be used to explain Cheetahs. If you said, “太郎がチーターらしく速く走っている” (Taro is running fast like a cheetah) we would assume that Taro was a cheetah and not a human.
「みたい」for Metaphorical Similarities
Ok, so what if you want to say that Taro runs fast like a cheetah even if he is not a cheetah? You would use “みたい”. So, you would say “太郎がチータみたいに速く走っている”.
Here, if Taro was in fact a Cheetah and you used “みたい” it would be incorrect. “みたい” is used to explain things that are actually not the same. Again, you could say “男みたいな女” (Man-like Women) but not “男みたいな男” (Man-like Man).
「っぽい」can be used for both
If you are talking about a ‘man-like man’, ‘man-like women’ or whatever you can use “っぽい”. There is a small difference though.
Look again at the example “チーターみたいに速く走る” (run fast like a cheetah). Here when you use “みたい” it is saying you run fast like a cheetah metaphorically. If you use “っぽい” Instead, “チーターっぽく速く走る” It would mean you are moving your body like a cheetah when you run. The focus would not be on the speed but on how you run.
Also, let’s compare “っぽい” with “らしい”. If you say “男っぽい” this would just mean having male-like traits whether physical or personality traits. You could say “男っぽい男” for a male and it would mean the same as “男らしい男”. But the difference would be that “っぽい” is neutral and does not suggest those traits are positive or not.
If you are learning Japanese and would like to know the difference between more similar words in Japanese go ahead and check out some of my other articles here.
Vocabulary
らしい (rashii) – similar
みたい (mitai) – similar
っぽい (ppoi) – similar
男 (otoko) – man
女 (onna) – woman
チーター (chiitaa) – cheeta
速く (hayaku) – quickly
走る (hashiru) – run
