Differences between らしい みたいだ、and っぽい

[Davey]

What are the differences between these three? In my grammar book it says you use らしいい and っぽい only with nouns, but besides that I don't really understand the differences.

女みたいだ
女らしい
女っぽい

 

[undrentide]

～みたい: like, often used for negative connotation.
～らしい: like, in a positive meaning, implying appropriateness.

For example:
子どもみたい childish
子どもらしい childlike (characteristic for a child, something expected from a child, etc.)

～ぽい could mean both positive and negative.

 

[Davey]

Thanks, it makes more sense now

 

[derick78b]

So, is it "smarter" to use ～ぽい, right?


Thank you.

 

[undrentide]

Thanks, it makes more sense now

I'm glad I can be of some help.

So, is it "smarter" to use ～ぽい, right?

Unfortunately, not always.
Because ～ぽい could carry negative connotation too, you might end up being misunderstood.
If I were you, I would stick to ～みたい to be on the safe side, unless I intend to offend the person.
(And depending on the context/the way you use it, or intonation, even ～みたい can offend people, too. Oh dear...)