A pen with a small metal ball at the tip that rolls to distribute ink smoothly onto paper as you write.
Compound of 'ball' and 'point.' Invented in the 1930s by László Bíró, a Hungarian journalist who created it to improve upon fountain pen technology, combining 'ball' (the rolling mechanism) with 'point' (the writing tip).
The ballpoint pen is one of history's most underrated inventions—before it, pens either leaked or smudged or required constant refilling; Bíró's innovation was so effective that ballpoint pens are still the global standard despite a century of competing technology.
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