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.
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɚ.ə/, /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɹə/
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.
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 (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)
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