球きゅう

きゅ

う

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 5,000

Meanings

General word for a round three-dimensional object or shape. Can refer to anything from a ball to a light bulb.

Mathematical term for a solid ball or its surface; see also 球体 and 球面.

〈数かず〉球きゅう投なげるto throw a certain number of pitches
彼かれは今日きょう100球きゅう投なげた。
He threw 100 pitches today.
球きゅうを打うつto hit a ball (in baseball)
バッターが速はやい球きゅうを打うった。
The batter hit a fast ball.
球きゅうが速はやいthe pitch/ball is fast
彼かれの球きゅうはプロの中なかでも速はやい。
His pitches are fast even among professionals.

球きゅう体たい sense 2
球体 specifically denotes a solid spherical body, while 球 can refer more loosely to any round object or the abstract mathematical sphere.
ボールN3sense 1
ボール is the everyday loanword for a sports or toy ball, while 球 is the more formal, often technical or sports-jargon term.
球きゅう面めん sense 2
球面 refers only to the curved surface of a sphere, whereas 球 can mean the entire solid ball as well.
玉たまN3
球 is the Sino-Japanese term emphasizing the geometric shape of a sphere or the ball used in sports, while 玉 is the native word with a much wider range of everyday and figurative senses.

玉たまN3sense 1
玉 is the native, everyday word for a round object (like a marble or eyeball), while 球 is used in more formal or scientific/sports contexts and in compound words like 野球.

個こN5
Use 個 when 球 (きゅう) refers to a round object in general, whereas 球 itself is used when counting balls in sports.

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The kanji 球 is a phono-semantic compound: 王 (jewel) + 求 (phonetic, also suggesting 'round'). The reading きゅう is the Sino-Japanese on'yomi.