bead
n. countablen. a small, round object with a hole in the middle, used for making jewelry or decorating clothes.
n. a small decorative object, typically spherical or cylindrical, with a perforation for threading.
She wore a necklace made of glass beads.
The children sat on the floor, carefully threading colorful beads onto long strings.
The intricate beadwork on the ceremonial garment reflected centuries of cultural tradition and meticulous handiwork.
From Middle English bede (“a prayer”), also “a bead for counting prayers” in a peire of bedes (literally “a pair of beads”), from Old English bedu, bed, ġebed (“a request, entreaty, prayer”), from Proto-West Germanic bedu, bed, gabed, from Proto-Germanic bedō, *bedą. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gebäd (“prayer”), Cimbrian gapéet (“prayer”), Dutch gebed and bede (“prayer”), German Gebet (“prayer”), Low German Gebett (“prayer”), Luxembourgish Gebiet (“prayer”), Vilamovian gybāt (“prayer”).