Meaning

Primary

Small Stone

Alternatives

Pebble, Stone

Word Type

noun

Explanation

You've already learned , which means stone. You haven't seen ころ before, but it's sometimes used as a casual suffix for small, round things. Put the two together, and you've got a small stone, or pebble.

Reading

いしころ
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

This uses the kun'yomi of , which you've already learned, and adds a bit of hiragana, so you should be able to read this! If you need help remembering the ころ bit, though, here's a mnemonic for you:

Even a small stone or pebble could have something amazing at its core (ころ). I mean, anything at all could be in that core! Gold, diamonds… Maybe even a chocolate filling! You'd better gather up some small stones and pebbles and start bashing them open to look at their cores. Otherwise, you could be missing out.

Context

Common Word Combinations

  • 石ころをひろう

    to pick up a small stone

    石ころをなげる

    to throw a small stone

    石ころを見る

    to look at pebbles

Context Sentences

オレンジ色の石ころが川に入った。

An orange stone entered the river.

このビーチ、石ころがたくさんあるね。

There are a lot of pebbles on this beach.

入り口の前は石ころが多いです。

There are many pebbles in front of the entrance.

Kanji Composition