秒
びょう
hepburn byou
second (counter)
Part of speech · counter / noun
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 十秒待ってください。Please wait 10 seconds.
- 一秒も無駄にできません。I can't waste even a second.
Collocations
秒 (byou, second — counter)一秒 (ichibyou, one second)何秒 (nanbyou, how many seconds)秒速 (byousoku, per-second speed)秒読み (byouyomi, countdown)
Mnemonic
秒 byou — second counter. Unlike 分, phonetic alternations are simple: 一秒 (ichibyou), 二秒 (nibyou), 三秒 (sanbyou), 四秒 (yonbyou), 五秒 (gobyou), 六秒 (rokubyou) — all regular. Kanji 秒 = 禾 (grain) + 少 (few) → "the tiniest part of a grain plant" → metaphor for the smallest time unit. Onyomi びょう (byou) cluster: 秒速 (per-second speed), 秒針 (second hand), 秒読み (countdown). The vocabulary anchors Japan's Shinkansen punctuality and Olympic timing culture — second-level precision is a social value.
Quick check
Component meaning of 秒?