so-so

See also: Appendix:Variations of "soso"

English

Etymology

From Middle English so so, from Old English swā swā, equivalent to so +‎ so. Compare Dutch zozo (“so-so”), German soso (“so-so”), Norwegian så som så (“so-so”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊˌsəʊ/, /ˌsəʊˈsəʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ, -əʊsəʊ

Adjective

so-so (not comparable)

1. (informal) Neither good nor bad; tolerable, passable, indifferent.

   The dessert was pretty good, but the meal was so-so.

   • 1765, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: […] W. Whitestone, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 5:

     [I]n ſome Iriſh Houſes, vvhere things are ſo-ſo, / One Gammon of Bacon hangs up for a ſhow; […]

   • 1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns:

     He [Robert Burns] certainly wrote some so-so verses to the Tree of Liberty.

Synonyms

• (neither good nor bad): average, comme ci comme ça, fair, meh, mediocre, middling, lackluster, okay

Translations

neither good nor bad

Albanian: çka (sq) Arabic: بَيْنَ بَيْنَ (ar) (bayna bayna) Egyptian Arabic: مش بطال (miš baṭṭāl), نص نص (nuṣ nuṣ) South Levantine Arabic: مش بطال (miš baṭṭāl), نص نص (nuṣ nuṣ) Bulgarian: горе-долу (bg) (gore-dolu), долу-горе (dolu-gore), бива (bg) (biva) Catalan: així així (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 馬馬虎虎／马马虎虎 (zh) (mǎmǎhǔhǔ) Czech: všelijaký Dutch: zozo (nl) Esperanto: iele-trapele Estonian: nii ja naa, nii või naa Finnish: niin ja näin French: comme ci comme ça (fr), couci-couça (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: so lala (de) Greek: έτσι κι έτσι (el) (étsi ki étsi) Hebrew: ככה־ככה (he) f (kákha kákha) Icelandic: svona... (is), svona svona Indonesian: biasa saja Italian: così così Japanese: まあまあ (ja) (māmā) Lao: please add this translation if you can Latin: plus minus Louisiana Creole French: pokapok Macedonian: така-така (taka-taka) Norwegian: passe (no) Polish: tak sobie (pl), średnio (pl) Portuguese: mais ou menos (pt) Russian: та́к себе́ (ru) (ták sebé), сре́дненький (ru) (srédnenʹkij), ничего́ (ru) (ničevó) Scottish Gaelic: meadhanach Spanish: más o menos (es), así así, pasable (es), templado (es), ni fu ni fa (es) Swedish: sådär (sv)

Adverb

so-so (not comparable)

1. (informal) Neither very well nor very poorly.

   He performed so-so during the tryouts, and the coach was undecided whether to add him to the team or not.

Synonyms

• (neither well nor poorly): blandly, indifferently, insipidly, moderately, passably

Translations

neither well nor poorly

Arabic: نِصْف نِصْف (niṣf niṣf), (casual, dialectal) نُصّ نُصّ (nuṣṣ nuṣṣ) South Levantine Arabic: نص نص Azerbaijani: elə-belə Chinese: Mandarin: 馬馬虎虎／马马虎虎 (zh) (mǎmǎhǔhǔ) Dutch: zozo (nl) Esperanto: iele-trapele Finnish: niin ja näin French: couci-couça (fr), comme ci comme ça (fr) German: soso, so la la, so lala (de) Hebrew: ככה ככה (he) (káxa káxa) Hungarian: szoszo Italian: così così Japanese: まあまあ (ja) (māmā) Korean: 그저 그래요 (geujeo geuraeyo), 그저 그렇게 (geujeo geureoke) Latin: plus minus Louisiana Creole French: pokapok Portuguese: mais ou menos (pt), assim, assim, assim assim, assim-assim (pt) Romanian: așa și așa Russian: ничего́ (ru) (ničevó), та́к себе́ (ru) (ták sebé) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: koliko-toliko (sh) Spanish: así así Swedish: sådär (sv) Thai: งั้น ๆ (th) (ngán-ngán), เรื่อย ๆ (rʉ̂ai-rʉ̂ai), เฉย ๆ (chə̌əi-chə̌əi) Vietnamese: tàm tạm (vi)

Anagrams

• Osos, Soos