Meanings
plural tapioca pearls
- A small, edible ball made primarily from tapioca starch.
A popular street breakfast option, sabudana vada is a crispy, spicy potato and tapioca pearl fritter.
2026 September 2, Vinita Jain, “How to make street-style sabudana vada at home”, in NewsBytes1 more example
The tiny tapioca pearls lacked the supple texture of freshly cooked ones, with little brown sugar flavor of their own.
2026 August 15, Irene Adeline Milanez, “We tasted boba from some of the Bay Area’s most popular chains. Here’s our No. 1”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2026Synonyms: pearl, boba, pearl tapioca, tapioca ball
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small, edible ball made primarily from tapioca starch.
Origin
From tapioca + pearl. Compare Mandarin 珍珠 (zhēnzhū).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 粉圓 /粉圆
- 粉圓 /粉圆 (fan² jyun⁴)edible ball made from tapioca
Chinese Mandarin 珍珠, 粉圓 /粉圆
- 珍珠 (zhēnzhū)edible ball made from tapioca
- 粉圓 /粉圆 (fěnyuán)edible ball made from tapioca
Finnish tapiokarae
- tapiokaraeedible ball made from tapioca
French perle de tapioca
- perle de tapiocaedible ball made from tapioca
Hindi साबूदाना
- साबूदाना (sābūdānā)edible ball made from tapioca
Indonesian pacar cina, sagu mutiara
- pacar cinaedible ball made from tapioca
- sagu mutiaraedible ball made from tapioca
Japanese タピオカパール
- タピオカパール (tapioka pāru)edible ball made from tapioca
Korean 타피오카 펄
- 타피오카 펄 (tapioka peol)edible ball made from tapioca
Polish granulat z tapioki
- granulat z tapiokiedible ball made from tapioca
Portuguese pérola de mandioca, bolinha de sagu
- pérola de mandiocaedible ball made from tapioca
- bolinha de saguedible ball made from tapioca
- saguedible ball made from tapioca
Russian ша́рик тапио́ки, зерно́ тапио́ки
- ша́рик тапио́ки (šárik tapióki)edible ball made from tapioca
- зерно́ тапио́ки (zernó tapióki)edible ball made from tapioca
Spanish perlas de tapioca, bolita de mandioca
- perlas de tapiocaedible ball made from tapioca
- bolita de mandiocaedible ball made from tapioca
Thai ไข่มุก
- ไข่มุก (kài-múk)edible ball made from tapioca
Vietnamese bột bán, trân châu
- bột bánedible ball made from tapioca
- trân châuedible ball made from tapioca
Cite this entry
tapioca pearl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tapioca%20pearl
“tapioca pearl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tapioca%20pearl. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tapioca pearl,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tapioca%20pearl.
Source: tapioca pearl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.