dangerous, risky · risque, off-color, vulgar · highly concerning (in a negative way)
köken: Originally a slang term used in the criminal underworld, used to indicate that the police were getting close. First cited to a cant dictionary from 1892. Derived as a shift to an -i adjective of older -na adjective やば (yaba, “illegal, dangerous, uneasy, not going well”), itself a slang term of uncertain derivation that appears in sources from the late 1700s. Possibly related to the ayabu- stem in…
köken: From Proto-Southwestern Tai *ʰnɔːᴮ¹, from Proto-Tai *ʰnoːᴮ. Cognate with Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨶᩬᩴ᩵, Khün ᩉ᩠ᨶᩳ᩵, Lao ໜໍ່ (nǭ), Lü ᦐᦸᧈ (ṅoa¹), Tai Dam ꪘꪷ꪿, Tai Dón ꪘꪮꫀ, Shan ၼေႃႇ (nàu), Tai Nüa ᥘᥨᥝᥱ (lǒw) or ᥢᥨᥝᥱ (nǒw), Phake ꩫ︀ေ︀ႃ (nō), Ahom 𑜃𑜦𑜡 (nō), Zhuang noq.
inflection of brotar: · third-person singular imperative
Etimoloji
Pokorny suggests a derivation from a Proto-Indo-European root common with Lithuanian pampti (“to swell up”), Lithuanian pùmpa (“knob”) and Latvian pumpe (“bump”).