Phrase guide

ballpoint pen

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A pen, similar in size and shape to a pencil, having an internal chamber filled with a viscous, quick-drying ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a metal sphere (around 0.7 mm to 1 mm in diameter).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ballpoint, ball pen, ballpen, biro

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pen, implement

2

noun

Meaning 2

a pen that has a small metal ball as the point of transfer of ink to paper

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ballpoint, ballpen, Biro

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pen

History

Etymology

From ballpoint + pen. Compare Dutch balpen (“ballpoint pen”).

Across languages

Translations

123 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: balpuntpen — pen
  • Albanian: stilolaps — pen
  • Arabic: قَلَم حِبْر (qalam ḥibr) — pen
  • Armenian: գնդիկավոր գրիչ (gndikavor gričʻ) — pen
  • Azerbaijani: diyircəkli qələm — pen
  • Belarusian: ша́рыкавая ру́чка (šárykavaja rúčka) — pen
  • Belarusian: ру́чка (rúčka) — pen
  • Bengali: কলম (kolom) — pen
  • Bengali: বলপয়েন্ট কলম (bolpoẏenṭo kolom) — pen
  • Bulgarian: химика́лка (himikálka) — pen
  • Bulgarian: писа́лка (pisálka) — pen
  • Burmese: ဘောပင် (bhau:pang) — pen
  • Burmese: ဘောပွိုင့်ပင် (bhau:pwuing.pang) — pen
  • Catalan: bolígraf — pen
  • Catalan: boli — pen
  • Catalan: ploma d'escriure — pen
  • Chinese Cantonese: 原子筆 /原子笔 (jyun4 zi2 pat1) — pen
  • Hakka Chinese: 原子筆 /原子笔 (ngièn-chṳ́-pit) — pen
  • Chinese: 原子筆 /原子笔 (zh-min-nan) — pen
  • Chinese Mandarin: 圓珠筆 /圆珠笔 (yuánzhūbǐ) — pen
  • Chinese Mandarin: 原子筆 /原子笔 (yuánzǐbǐ) — pen
  • Czech: kuličkové pero — pen
  • Czech: propiska — pen
  • Czech: propisovací tužka — pen
  • Czech: propisovačka — pen
  • Danish: kuglepen — pen
  • Dutch: balpen — pen
  • Esperanto: globkrajono — pen
  • Estonian: pastapliiats — pen
  • Farefare: biki class 1/2 — pen
  • Faroese: kúlupennur — pen
  • Finnish: kuulakärkikynä — pen
  • French: bic — pen
  • French: stylo à bille — pen
  • French: crayon à bille — pen
  • Georgian: ბურთულიანი კალამი (burtuliani ḳalami) — pen
  • German: Kugelschreiber — pen
  • German: Kuli — pen
  • Greek: στυλό διαρκείας (styló diarkeías) — pen
  • Haitian Creole: plim biy — pen
  • Hebrew: עֵט כַּדּוּרִי (et kadurí) — pen
  • Hindi: बॉलपेन (bŏlpen) — pen
  • Hungarian: golyóstoll — pen
  • Icelandic: kúlupenni — pen
  • Indonesian: bolpen — pen
  • Irish: peann gránbhiorach — pen
  • Irish: badhró — pen
  • Italian: penna a sfera — pen
  • Italian: biro — pen
  • Japanese: ボールペン (bōrupen) — pen
  • Kazakh: қаламсап (qalamsap) — pen
  • Khmer: ដងប៉ាកកាគ្លី (dɑɑng paakkaa klii) — pen
  • Khmer: ដងប៉ាកាឃ្លី (dɑɑng paakkaa khlii) — pen
  • Khmer: ប៊ិច (bɨc) — pen
  • Korean: 볼펜 (bolpen) — pen
  • Korean: 원주필 (wonjupil) — pen
  • Korean: 원자필 (wonjapil) — pen
  • Kyrgyz: калемсап (kalemsap) — pen
  • Lao: ບິກ (bik) — pen
  • Lao: ສໍປາກກາ (sǭ pāk kā) — pen
  • Latin: stilus sphaeratus — pen
  • Latvian: lodīšu pildspalva — pen
  • Lithuanian: tušinukas — pen
  • Macedonian: хемиско пенкало (hemisko penkalo) — pen
  • Malay: pen mata bulat — pen
  • Malay: pen mata bola — pen
  • Malay: pen bebola — pen
  • Māori: penepura — pen
  • Mongolian: үзгэн бал (üzgen bal) — pen
  • Nepali: बलपेन (balpen) — pen
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kulepenn — pen
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kulepenn — pen
  • Iranian Persian: خودْکار (xodkâr) — pen
  • Polish: długopis — pen
  • Portuguese: caneta esferográfica — pen
  • Portuguese: esferográfica — pen
  • Punjabi: ਬਾਲ ਪੈੱਨ (bāl painna) — pen
  • Romanian: pix — pen
  • Russian: ша́риковая ру́чка (šárikovaja rúčka) — pen
  • Russian: ру́чка (rúčka) — pen
  • Serbo-Croatian: хе́мӣјска̄ о̀ло̄вка — pen
  • Serbo-Croatian: ке́мӣјска̄ о̀ло̄вка — pen
  • Serbo-Croatian: hémījskā òlōvka — pen
  • Serbo-Croatian: kémījskā òlōvka — pen
  • Slovak: guľôčkové pero — pen
  • Slovene: kemični svinčnik — pen
  • Spanish: bolígrafo — pen
  • Spanish: birome — pen
  • Spanish: boli — pen
  • Spanish: esfero — pen
  • Spanish: lapicero — pen
  • Spanish: lápiz pasta — pen
  • Spanish: mango — pen
  • Spanish: pluma — pen
  • Spanish: plumero — pen
  • Spanish: puntabola — pen
  • Swahili: kalamu — pen
  • Swedish: kulspetspenna — pen
  • Swedish: kulpenna — pen
  • Tagalog: bolpoint — pen
  • Tagalog: bolpen — pen
  • Tajik: ручка (ručka) — pen
  • Tajik: худкор (xudkor) — pen
  • Tamil: குமிழ்முனைப் பேனா (kumiḻmuṉaip pēṉā) — pen
  • Telugu: బాల్ పెన్ (bāl pen) — pen
  • Telugu: బాల్ పాయింట్ పెన్ (bāl pāyiṇṭ pen) — pen
  • Thai: ปากกาลูกลื่น (bpàak-gaa-lûuk-lʉ̂ʉn) — pen
  • Thai: ปากกาหมึกแห้ง (bpàak-gaa-mʉ̀k-hɛ̂ɛng) — pen
  • Turkish: tükenmez kalem — pen
  • Turkmen: ruçka — pen
  • Ukrainian: кулько́ва ру́чка (kulʹkóva rúčka) — pen
  • Ukrainian: ру́чка (rúčka) — pen
  • Urdu: بال پوائِنْٹ پین (bāl pvāinṭ pen) — pen
  • Urdu: بال پین (bāl pen) — pen
  • Uzbek: ruchka — pen
  • Vietnamese: viết bi — pen
  • Vietnamese: bút bi — pen
  • Vietnamese: bút nguyên tử — pen
  • Volapük: glöpapen — pen
  • Welsh: beiro — pen
  • Yoruba: báírò — pen
  • Zhuang: yenzcuhbit — pen
  • Zhuang: yenzcuhbiz — pen