Meaning

Primary

Marble

Word Type

noun

Explanation

When you see a katakana word, it's a safe bet that it is a foreign loan word from somewhere else. This one's interesting, because it combines katakana and kanji! The first marble came to Japan from Portugal, so the ビー part of the word is short for "vidro," which means "glass" in Portuguese. Anyway, don't get thrown off by that ビー. Maybe just imagine that your favorite marble is black and yellow like a bee.

Reading

びーだま
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)
ビーだま
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

If you know katakana as well as the reading that you learned when you learned the kanji , you should be able to read this. Just watch out for the rendaku.

Context

Common Word Combinations

  • ビー玉をつかう

    to use marbles

    ビー玉をいれる

    to put marbles in something

    ビー玉をころがす

    to roll marbles

Context Sentences

ビー玉は小さい丸い玉です。

Marbles are small, round balls.

二月三日に大きなビー玉のレースがあります。

There is a big marble race on February 3rd.

ママの目玉、ビー玉みたいできれいだね。

Mom, your eyeball is beautiful like a marble.

Kanji Composition