To obtain a water-based emulsion adhesive having markedly excellent water-resistant adhesiveness and good storage stability by using a polyvinyl alcohol having a specified degree of modification with ethylene and a specified degree of saponification as the dispersion medium and using a (co)polymer comprising at least one monomer selected among ethylenically unsaturated monomers as the dispersoid.

A water-based emulsion adhesive is obtained by using a modified polyvinyl alcohol containing 1-15mol% ethylene units and having a degree of saponification of 99.5mol% or above and a degree of polymerization of 100-8,000 as the dispersion medium and using a (co)polymer comprising at least one member selected among ethylenically unsaturated monomers by emulsion polymerization using 1-30 pts.wt. ethylene-modified polyvinyl alcohol per 100 pts.wt. polymer of the ethylenically unsaturated monomer. The dispersion medium may further contain a nonionic or cationic surfactant, etc.