Katakana word

basukettoボーru “basketball” in Japanese

basukettobōru

Character by character

  1. ba
  2. su
  3. ke
  4. small tsu: doubles the next consonant
  5. to
  6. bo
  7. stretches the sound before it
  8. ru

バスケットボール is made of 6 katakana sounds, 1 long-vowel mark and 1 small ッ. It reads basukettobōru.

Can you read these?

Same script, same rules. Try before you reveal.

バレーボール

barēbōru — volleyball · breakdown →

ラグビー

ragubī — rugby · breakdown →

バドミントン

badominton — badminton · breakdown →

More katakana words

Read your first Japanese words in 10 minutes

Katakana Rocks! teaches you katakana, then hiragana and your first kanji, through the story of a rock band on tour in Japan: quizzes, a rhythm game and real street signs. The first 5 levels are free, right in your browser.

▶ Play the free demo

Full game: one purchase, no subscription.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play