1A thin, pointed piece of metal used for sewing fabric or piercing things, such as a sewing needle or hypodermic needle.
母は針で破れたシャツを縫ってくれた。
My mother sewed up my torn shirt with a needle.
注射の針が少し痛かった。
The injection needle hurt a little.
針に糸を通すのが苦手だ。
I'm not good at threading a needle.
床に落ちた針を見つけるのは大変だ。
Finding a needle that fell on the floor is difficult.
2A curved metal tool used for catching fish; a fishhook.
針に餌をつけて川に投げ入れた。
I put bait on the hook and cast it into the river.
大きな魚が針にかかった。
A big fish got caught on the hook.
3The sharp part on the body of a bee, scorpion, etc., used for stinging.
蜂に刺されて、皮膚に針が残っていた。
I got stung by a bee, and its stinger was left in my skin.
サソリの針には毒がある。
A scorpion's stinger contains venom.
4The thin pointer on a clock or watch face that indicates the time, such as the hour or minute hand.
時計の針が12時を指した。
The clock's hands pointed to 12 o'clock.
この時計は針が止まってしまった。
This clock's hands have stopped.
秒針が静かに動いている。
The second hand is quietly ticking.
5A small piece of metal used in a stapler to bind papers together; a staple.
ホッチキスの針がなくなったので補充した。
The stapler ran out of staples, so I refilled it.
針を外してから紙をコピーしてください。
Please remove the staple before copying the paper.
6The craft of sewing or needlework; also called お針, a somewhat old-fashioned term.
祖母は若い頃、針の仕事で生計を立てていた。
When she was young, my grandmother made a living doing needlework.
7A sharpness or malice felt in someone's tone or manner, as in 針のある言い方 (a barbed way of speaking).
彼女の言葉には針があるように感じた。
I felt there was malice in her words.
8A counter used for the number of stitches sewn, e.g. in a wound closed by sutures.
傷口を三針縫った。
The wound was closed with three stitches.
手術で十針も縫ったそうだ。
I heard he needed as many as ten stitches from the surgery.