秒

• Reading: びょう
• Romaji: byou
• Kanji breakdown: 秒 (byou) — second; composed of 禾 (grain) + 少 (few)
• Pronunciation: /bjoː/

Meaning

Second (unit of time). The smallest common time unit in daily Japanese.

Read as びょう. Used with numbers to count seconds — 一秒 (ichibyou, one second), 三十秒 (sanjuubyou, thirty seconds). Less common in everyday conversation than 分 (minutes), but appears in sports, cooking, countdowns, and time-sensitive contexts.

Examples

1. あと三十秒待ってください。 Please wait thirty more seconds.
2. 百メートルを十二秒で走りました。 I ran a hundred meters in twelve seconds.
3. 電子レンジで三十秒温めてください。 Please heat it in the microwave for thirty seconds.

Usage Guide

Context: sports, cooking, countdowns

Tone: neutral

Origin & History

The kanji 秒 combines 禾 (grain) and 少 (few/small), originally referring to the thin tip of a grain stalk — extended to mean the smallest unit of time.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal