玉
Ball
| on’yomi | kun’yomi | Radicals |
|---|---|---|
| n/i | たま | 王 + 丶 |
Meaning: Ball
The king has something in his hand that he’s dropping… but it bounces too! He’s bouncing a ball
This kanji looks just like a king bouncing a ball, no? If not, imagine the kanji itself bouncing the drop (the ball) over and over again, then laying some hoops like a pro.
Reading: n/i
There’s no important on’yomi for this kanji, so we’ll skip it for now and just move on to the vocab.
Vocabulary
Learn the meanings of these words before moving on (and the readings too – that isn’t too hard).
a 玉（たま）＝ Ball, Sphere
- Meaning: The meaning of the word is the same as the kanji.
- Reading: the reading is the kun’yomi reading. Think of someone curled up in a ball. It is someone you know / someone famous named “Tom” (たま).
a ビー玉（びーだま）＝ (a) marble
- Combo: ビー (katakana, short for vidro, the Portuguese word for glass) + 玉 (ball)
- Meaning: A glass ball is what? A marble.
- Reading: If you know the reading for 玉 you can figure out the reading for this. Pretty close.
a 玉ねぎ（たまねぎ）＝ (the round) onion
- Combo: 玉 (ball) + ねぎ (onion)
- Meaning: ねぎ is onion, and 玉 is round, so you can probably guess this is one of those round shaped onions.
- Reading: Just know the reading of 玉 and all will be well.