How do you say "basketball" in Chinese?

In Chinese, "basketball" is 篮球 (lán qiú). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of basketball from Noun Town

Pronunciation

篮球 (pinyin: lán qiú) is written using Chinese characters (Hanzi).

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Questions about 篮球

How do you pronounce 篮球?

篮球 is romanised as lán qiú in Chinese. This pinyin gives you an approximate pronunciation for English speakers. Listen to the audio on this page for the native pronunciation.

How is 篮球 written in Chinese?

篮球 is written using Chinese characters (Hanzi). The pinyin is lán qiú. Learning to read Chinese characters (Hanzi) takes time, but Noun Town teaches vocabulary through gameplay so the writing becomes familiar through repeated exposure.

Is 篮球 formal or casual?

篮球 is a common noun used in everyday Chinese speech. The level of formality in a sentence comes from the surrounding words and grammatical forms rather than from this word alone.

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Chinese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.