In Japanese, "basketball" is バスケットボール (basukettobōru). It is a noun pronounced "bah-soo-keh-ttoh-boh-roo".
Listen to the pronunciation:
バスケットボール is written in katakana. Romanised as basukettobōru, it sounds roughly like "bah-soo-keh-ttoh-boh-roo" to an English ear.
新しいバスケットボールを買いました。
Atarashii Basukettobōru wo kaimashita.
I bought a new basketball.
Basukettobōru (バスケットボール) is the Japanese word for basketball. This noun appears in everyday contexts across homes, offices, schools, and public spaces.
Curated by Jack Ratcliffe
Practice バスケットボール and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.
Buy on Steamバスケットボール is romanised as basukettobōru. Say it roughly like "bah-soo-keh-ttoh-boh-roo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.
バスケットボール is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech. The level of formality comes from the sentence structure around it, not from the word itself.
バスケットボール is written using katakana. Katakana is typically used for words of foreign origin or to give emphasis.
This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Japanese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.
Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town