球
球 — Ball
ball, sphere
On’yomiキュウ (kyuu)
Kun’yomiたま (tama)
Stroke order (11 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 球
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 地球 | ちきゅう chikyuu | Earth; the globe |
| 野球 | やきゅう yakyuu | baseball |
| 球 | きゅう kyuu | sphere; globe; ball |
| 球場 | きゅうじょう kyuujou | baseball stadium; ballpark |
| 球団 | きゅうだん kyuudan | baseball team |
| 四球 | しきゅう shikyuu | base on balls; walk; pass |
Study notes
球 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 11 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #302 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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