soap opera

See also: soap-opera

English

Etymology

From the soap and detergent commercials originally broadcast during the shows, which were aimed at the audience of women who were doing their cleaning; opera from the melodramatic character of the shows, as the earlier horse opera.

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɚ.ə/, /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɹə/
Audio (General American): (file)

Noun

soap opera (countable and uncountable, plural soap operas)

(countable) A radio or television serial, typically broadcast in the afternoon or evening, about the lives of melodramatic characters, which are often filled with strong emotions, highly dramatic situations and suspense.
Synonyms: (colloquial) soap, daytime serial, (colloquial, dated) story, (India) serial, (Philippines) teleserye, (particularly Latin America) telenovela, (Indonesia) sinetron

Coordinate term: telenovela
- 2002, Robert C. Allen, To Be Continued...: Soap Operas Around the World, Routledge, →ISBN, page 81:
  This chapter considers the growing interest in the popular Welsh-language soap opera, Pobol Y Cwm (People of the Valley), and the extent to which discourses of Welshness and definitions of cultural and national identity contribute to the appeal and longevity of the soap.
- 2014, Frank J. Lechner, John Boli, The Globalization Reader, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 393:
  It also followed the very successful long-running soap opera, Neighbours.
(uncountable) Such serials in general.

Descendants

→ German: Seifenoper (calque)

Translations

television serial

Arabic: تَمْثِيلِيَّة f (tamṯīliyya), (literal), مُسَلْسَلَات تِلِفِزْيُونِيَّة f pl (musalsalāt tilifizyūniyya), مُسَلْسَلَات pl (musalsalāt)
Egyptian Arabic: تمثيلية f (tamseleyya), مسلسل m (mosalsal)
Belarusian: мы́льная о́пера f (mýlʹnaja ópjera), тэлесерыя́л m (teljesjeryjál), серыя́л m (sjeryjál)
Catalan: culebrot m, telenovel·la (ca) f, fulletó (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 肥皂劇／肥皂剧 (fei⁴ zou⁶ kek⁶)

Mandarin: 肥皂劇／肥皂剧 (zh) (féizàojù), 電視劇／电视剧 (zh) (diànshìjù) (TV), 連續劇／连续剧 (zh) (liánxùjù)
Czech: mýdlová opera (cs) f
Danish: sæbeopera c
Dutch: soap (nl) f, soapreeks, soapserie (nl) f
Estonian: seebiooper
Finnish: saippuasarja (fi), saippuaooppera (fi)
French: feuilleton (fr) m, soap opera (fr) m, soap (fr) m, téléroman (fr) m (Québec)
Galician: telenovela f
German: Soap (de) f, Seifenoper (de) f
Greek: σαπουνόπερα (el) f (sapounópera)
Hebrew: אוֹפֶּרַת סַבּוֹן f (óperat sabón)
Hungarian: szappanopera (hu)
Icelandic: sápuópera f
Indonesian: sinetron (id), opera sabun (id)
Irish: sobaldráma m, sobalchlár m
Italian: telenovela (it) f
Japanese: 昼メロ (hiru-mero), 昼ドラマ (hiru-dorama), 昼ドラ (hiru-dora), ソープオペラ (ja) (sōpuopera), ドラマ (ja) (dorama) (TV series, TV drama), シリーズ (ja) (shirīzu)
Korean: 연속극 (ko) (yeonsokgeuk), 드라마 (ko) (deurama) (TV series, TV drama), 시리즈 (ko) (sirijeu)
Kyrgyz: эзилме опера (ezilme opera)
Luxembourgish: Seefenoper
Macedonian: са́пунска о́пера f (sápunska ópera), сапу́ница f (sapúnica)
Navajo: táláwosh binahjįʼ njilkid
Norwegian:
Bokmål: såpeopera m

Nynorsk: såpeopera m
Persian: اپرای صابون (operâ-ye sâbun), اپرای صابونی (operâ-ye sâbuni), نمایش صابونی (namâyeš-e sâbuni)
Polish: telenowela (pl) f, opera mydlana (pl) f
Portuguese: telenovela (pt) f, novela (pt) f
Romanian: telenovelă f
Russian: мы́льная о́пера (ru) f (mýlʹnaja ópera), телесериа́л (ru) m (teleseriál), сериа́л (ru) m (seriál)
Scottish Gaelic: siabann m
Slovene: telenovela f
Spanish: telenovela (es) f, culebrón (es) m, folletín m, novelón (es) m
Swedish: såpopera (sv) c, såpa (sv) c
Tagalog: telenobela
Thai: น้ำเน่า (náam-nâo), ละครน้ำเน่า (lá-kɔɔn-náam-nâo), ซีรีส์ (sii-rîi)
Turkish: pembe dizi (tr)
Ukrainian: ми́льна о́пера f (mýlʹna ópera), телесеріа́л m (teleseriál), серіа́л m (seriál)