秒 expresses a second of time. Meet it in measurements, a clock and a race.

The idea

秒 has nine strokes and is read びょう in 秒 and 秒針（びょうしん）. Numbers precede 秒: 十秒 is じゅうびょう. Follow the linked stroke diagram when writing it.

Patterns to compare
JapaneseReadingMeaning in context
十秒じゅうびょうPlease wait ten seconds.
秒針びょうしんThe clock has a red second hand.
一秒いちびょうEvery second counts in this race.
五秒ごびょうThe timer stopped at three minutes and five seconds.

Examples

  • 十秒じゅうびょう待まってください。Please wait ten seconds.
  • 電車でんしゃは三十秒さんじゅうびょう遅おくれて出発しゅっぱつしました。The train left thirty seconds late.
  • 五十ごじゅうメートルを四十秒よんじゅうびょうで泳およげます。I can swim fifty metres in forty seconds.
  • この時計とけいには赤あかい秒針びょうしんがあります。The clock has a red second hand.
  • この競走きょうそうでは一秒いちびょうも大切たいせつです。Every second counts in this race.
  • タイマーは三分さんぷん五秒ごびょうで止とまりました。The timer stopped at three minutes and five seconds.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

秒 measures seconds, while 分（ふん／ぷん） measures minutes. 秒針 is the second hand, not the minute hand: that is 分針（ふんしん）.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 秒 in hiragana.

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    びょう

    秒 is read びょう; 十秒 is ten seconds.

  2. Write the reading of 秒針 in hiragana.

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    びょうしん

    秒針 is びょうしん, the hand that indicates seconds.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: ３＿（さんびょう）［秒／分］.

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    秒

    秒 completes 三秒（さんびょう）, three seconds; 分 would mean minutes.

Use it today

Write 秒 using the stroke diagram, then read 十秒 and 秒針 aloud. Make your own sentence about a short wait.