Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 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).
More synonyms by meaning
nouna pen that has a small metal ball as the point of transfer of ink to paper
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From ballpoint + pen. Compare Dutch balpen (“ballpoint pen”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans balpuntpen
- balpuntpenpen
Arabic قَلَم حِبْر
- قَلَم حِبْر (qalam ḥibr)pen
Bengali কলম, বলপয়েন্ট কলম
- কলম (kolom)pen
- বলপয়েন্ট কলম (bolpoẏenṭo kolom)pen
Bulgarian химика́лка, писа́лка
- химика́лка (himikálka)pen
- писа́лка (pisálka)pen
Catalan bolígraf, boli
- bolígrafpen
- bolipen
- ploma d'escriurepen
Chinese Cantonese 原子筆 /原子笔
- 原子筆 /原子笔 (jyun⁴ zi² pat¹)pen
Chinese Mandarin 圓珠筆 /圆珠笔, 原子筆 /原子笔
- 圓珠筆 /圆珠笔 (yuánzhūbǐ)pen
- 原子筆 /原子笔 (yuánzǐbǐ)pen
Czech kuličkové pero, propiska
- kuličkové peropen
- propiskapen
- propisovací tužkapen
- propisovačkapen
Danish kuglepen
- kuglepenpen
Dutch balpen
- balpenpen
Esperanto globkrajono
- globkrajonopen
Estonian pastapliiats
- pastapliiatspen
Finnish kuulakärkikynä
- kuulakärkikynäpen
French bic, stylo à bille
- bicpen
- stylo à billepen
- crayon à billepen
German Kugelschreiber, Kuli
- Kugelschreiberpen
- Kulipen
Greek στυλό διαρκείας
- στυλό διαρκείας (styló diarkeías)pen
Hebrew עֵט כַּדּוּרִי
- עֵט כַּדּוּרִי (et kadurí)pen
Hindi बॉलपेन
- बॉलपेन (bŏlpen)pen
Hungarian golyóstoll
- golyóstollpen
Icelandic kúlupenni
- kúlupennipen
Indonesian bolpen
- bolpenpen
Irish peann gránbhiorach, badhró
- peann gránbhiorachpen
- badhrópen
Italian penna a sfera, biro
- penna a sferapen
- biropen
Japanese ボールペン
- ボールペン (bōrupen)pen
Korean 볼펜, 원주필
- 볼펜 (bolpen)pen
- 원주필 (wonjupil)pen
- 원자필 (wonjapil)pen
Latin stilus sphaeratus
- stilus sphaeratuspen
Latvian lodīšu pildspalva
- lodīšu pildspalvapen
Lithuanian tušinukas
- tušinukaspen
Malay pen mata bulat, pen mata bola
- pen mata bulatpen
- pen mata bolapen
- pen bebolapen
Māori penepura
- penepurapen
Norwegian Bokmål kulepenn
- kulepennpen
Polish długopis
- długopispen
Portuguese caneta esferográfica, esferográfica
- caneta esferográficapen
- esferográficapen
Punjabi ਬਾਲ ਪੈੱਨ
- ਬਾਲ ਪੈੱਨ (bāl painna)pen
Romanian pix
- pixpen
Russian ша́риковая ру́чка, ру́чка
- ша́риковая ру́чка (šárikovaja rúčka)pen
- ру́чка (rúčka)pen
Slovak guľôčkové pero
- guľôčkové peropen
Spanish bolígrafo, birome
- bolígrafopen
- biromepen
- bolipen
- esferopen
- lapiceropen
- lápiz pastapen
- mangopen
- plumapen
- plumeropen
- puntabolapen
Swahili kalamu
- kalamupen
Swedish kulspetspenna, kulpenna
- kulspetspennapen
- kulpennapen
Tagalog bolpoint, bolpen
- bolpointpen
- bolpenpen
Tamil குமிழ்முனைப் பேனா
- குமிழ்முனைப் பேனா (kumiḻmuṉaip pēṉā)pen
Thai ปากกาลูกลื่น, ปากกาหมึกแห้ง
- ปากกาลูกลื่น (bpàak-gaa-lûuk-lʉ̂ʉn)pen
- ปากกาหมึกแห้ง (bpàak-gaa-mʉ̀k-hɛ̂ɛng)pen
Turkish tükenmez kalem
- tükenmez kalempen
Ukrainian кулько́ва ру́чка, ру́чка
- кулько́ва ру́чка (kulʹkóva rúčka)pen
- ру́чка (rúčka)pen
Urdu بال پوائِنْٹ پین, بال پین
- بال پوائِنْٹ پین (bāl pvāinṭ pen)pen
- بال پین (bāl pen)pen
Vietnamese viết bi, bút bi
- viết bipen
- bút bipen
- bút nguyên tửpen
Welsh beiro
- beiropen
Cite this entry
ballpoint pen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ballpoint%20pen
“ballpoint pen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ballpoint%20pen. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ballpoint pen,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ballpoint%20pen.
Source: ballpoint pen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.