so-so

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so-so

/ˈsəʊˌsəʊ/
/ˌsəʊˈsəʊ/

Rhymes with -əʊ, -əʊsəʊ

Where it comes from

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”).

adjective

informal, not comparable Neither good nor bad; tolerable, passable, indifferent. The dessert was pretty good, but the meal was so-so.
Similar: average, comme ci comme ça, fair, lackluster, meh, mediocre, middling, crappy, moderate, decent, indifferent, mid

adverb

informal, not comparable 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.
Similar: blandly, indifferently, insipidly, moderately, passably

Translations

Every language

adj neither good nor bad

Español	así así, ni fu ni fa, (yo) me defiendo proficiency
日本語	まあまあ māmā
中文	馬馬虎虎 /马马虎虎 mǎmǎhǔhǔ
Português	mais ou menos
Français	comme ci comme ça, couci-couça
Deutsch	so lala
Italiano	così così
Ελληνικά	έτσι κι έτσι étsi ki étsi
Română	așa și așa
Русский	та́к себе́ ták sebé, сре́дненький srédnenʹkij, ничего́ ničevó
العربية	بَيْنَ بَيْنَ bayna bayna
עברית	ככה־ככה kákha kákha

adv neither well nor poorly

Español	así así, regular, tal cual, ni fu ni fa
한국어	그저 그래요 geujeo geuraeyo, 그저 그렇게 geujeo geureoke
日本語	まあまあ māmā
中文	馬馬虎虎 /马马虎虎 mǎmǎhǔhǔ
Português	mais ou menos, assim, assim, assim assim, assim-assim
Français	couci-couça, comme ci comme ça
Deutsch	soso, so la la, so lala
Italiano	così così
Română	așa și așa
Русский	ничего́ ničevó, та́к себе́ ták sebé
Tiếng Việt	tàm tạm
العربية	نِصْف نِصْف niṣf niṣf, نُصّ نُصّ nuṣṣ nuṣṣ
עברית	ככה ככה káxa káxa

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Cite this

MLA

"so-so." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/so-so. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

so-so. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/so-so

Chicago

"so-so." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/so-so.

BibTeX

@misc{so_so_2026,
  title = {so-so},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/so-so},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}