Two naming systems meet in Himalayan and Chinese beadwork. The Chinese wen wan (文玩, wen wan, "plaything") trade has a precise, widely shared vocabulary of bead shapes (珠型, zhu xing): round, barrel, drum, abacus. Those Chinese names are what you'll see in almost any catalog, ours included. Tibetan tradition, by contrast, keeps few fixed trade names for cuts. It names beads by material and use (Dzi, conch, mala) and describes shapes descriptively. Below, Tibetan terms marked * are honest descriptive renderings ("bead like a drop"), not attested traditional names. We label them so rather than invent authority.
Round
Round (圆珠, yuan zhu). Tibetan: རིལ་བུ (ril bu, "pellet")
The sphere: the most classic shape in any tradition, and in China the round carries the symbolism of completeness and fulfillment (圆满, yuan man). It is also the most material-efficient cut, which is why most fine rough becomes rounds. Historically, though, a matched strand of true hand-ground rounds was enormously difficult to produce. Old handmade barrels and discs far outnumber genuine antique rounds.
Barrel
Barrel (桶珠, tong zhu). Tibetan: བུམ་པ (bum pa, "vase")
A straight cylinder with flat, often slightly rounded, ends: the workhorse of Tibetan-style (藏式, zang shi) strands, where most bracelets are strung primarily of barrels. Because it wastes more material than a round, fine stone and amber were historically less often cut this way. Tibetan art prizes the bulging vase silhouette as an auspicious form (the treasure vase), and bum pa is the natural Tibetan descriptor for barrels with that profile.
Drum
Drum (鼓珠, gu zhu). Tibetan: རྔ (nga, "drum")
A short, wide bead with bulging sides and two flat faces, named for the drum it resembles: the Chinese character 鼓 (gu) literally means drum. It sits flatter and warmer against the wrist than a round and uses less material, which makes it a staple of wood and Tibetan-style strands. Somewhere between the barrel and the abacus bead in proportion.
Apple Round
Apple Round (苹果珠, ping guo zhu). Tibetan: ཀུ་ཤ་ལྟ་བུའི་རིལ་བུ (ku sha lta bu'i ril bu, "apple-like pellet")*
A barrel relative with bulging sides and gently dimpled, concave ends, like the top and bottom of an apple. The concave ends don't catch arm hair, which is the practical reason it's favored in snug Tibetan-style bracelets. Sizes are typically listed as e.g. 6x8 or 7x9 mm (hole diameter x width). Frequently confused with the drum bead, but the apple's ends are concave where the drum's are flat.
Date (Jujube)
Date / Jujube (枣珠, zao zhu). Tibetan: རིང་བའི་རྡེའུ (ring ba'i rde'u, "elongated bead")*
An elongated oval tapering to soft points at the drilled ends, named for the red jujube date it resembles. In Chinese bead culture the red date shape carries warm auspicious associations: happiness, prosperity, a "red and flourishing" life. When the taper is sharpened to true points it's usually called the olive bead (橄榄珠, gan lan zhu) instead.
Abacus
Abacus (算盘珠, suan pan zhu). Tibetan: ཐིག་ལེ (thig le, "flat disc/dot")*
A wide, flat disc modeled on the counters of the Chinese suan pan abacus. Folklore ties it to wealth and account-keeping. The old saying goes 算盘一响 (suan pan yi xiang), 黄金万两 (huang jin wan liang, "the abacus sounds, and ten thousand taels of gold flow"), so it's a favorite for money-themed strands. Wears very flat and comfortable, and shows off broad, even material like turquoise beautifully.
Disc
Disc / Wheel (片珠, pian zhu). Tibetan: ཐིག་ལེ (thig le)*
Thinner and flatter than the abacus bead, the disc is a utility shape: spacers (隔珠, ge zhu) between larger beads, stacked accents, heishi-style strands. Also called wheel bead (车轮珠, che lun zhu) for its cartwheel look. Because the cut is forgiving, discs dominate among genuinely old handmade beads: imperfectly round ancient discs vastly outnumber ancient true rounds.
Melon
Melon (瓜珠, gua zhu). Tibetan: སྒོག་པ་ལྟ་བུ (sgog pa lta bu, "gourd-like")*
A round bead carved into rounded vertical lobes like a tiny pumpkin or gourd. This is one of humanity's oldest bead shapes: lobed "melon" beads have been found from ancient Mesopotamia (Chinese sellers love the legend that they were made for royalty at Ur, and label it a legend) through Song and Liao dynasty China, where the form was associated with rank. The lobing also gives grip, which is one reason the shape survives in prayer beads today.
Bamboo Node
Bamboo Node (竹节珠, zhu jie zhu). Tibetan: སྨྱུག་མ་ལྟ་བུ (smyug ma lta bu, "bamboo-like")*
A cylinder carved as a short length of bamboo with raised segment nodes. Bamboo bends in the wind without breaking, so in Chinese symbolism it stands for integrity, resilience, and longevity: the three virtues of the gentleman-scholar. Common in carved jade, agate, and wood. A whole strand of bamboo-node beads reads as one continuous cane.
Lotus
Lotus (莲花珠, lian hua zhu). Tibetan: པདྨ (padma, "lotus")
A bead carved in relief as a blooming lotus wrapping its surface. The lotus, Sanskrit padma, Tibetan padma, is the central purity symbol of Buddhism: rooted in mud, rising clean above the water. Carved lotus beads are especially popular in white jade and bone, where the petals read clearly.
Rice Grain
Rice Grain (米珠, mi zhu). Tibetan: འབྲས (bras, "rice")*
A tiny, plump, rice-shaped bead: historically the filler of the bead world, used to complete counts, space larger beads, and build dense beadwork. In Qing dynasty court regalia, strings of tiny seed pearls and glass rice beads filled out the chao zhu (朝珠, chao zhu) court necklaces. Today it's the standard unit of bead-weaving and embroidery work worldwide.
Teardrop
Teardrop (水滴珠, shui di zhu). Tibetan: ཐིགས་པ་ལྟ་བུ (thigs pa lta bu, "drop-like")*
Round at the base, tapering to the drilled point: a bead cut like a falling drop of water. Common as earrings, as pendants hanging below a strand's guru bead, and as accent beads in necklace work. When the taper is short and blunt it's also marketed as the heart bead (心形珠, xin xing zhu).
Faceted
Faceted (切面珠, qie mian zhu). Tibetan: ཟུར་མང་བའི་རྡེའུ (zur mang ba'i rde'u, "many-edged bead")*
A round bead cut with flat geometric facets, like a tiny disco ball. The facets catch and split light on dark stones (black onyx, spinel, garnet) far better than a polish alone. A relatively modern cut in the Himalayan context. Traditional strands favor smooth, hand-worn surfaces.
Openwork (Carved)
Openwork Carved (镂空珠, lou kong zhu). Tibetan: no fixed traditional name. Described descriptively
A bead carved with pierced lattice windows rather than solid relief, from simple coin-cut patterns up to the hydrangea puzzle ball (镂空绣球, lou kong xiu qiu), where an outer carved sphere nests around one or more free-moving inner balls. The craft reached extraordinary refinement in Qing-dynasty Cantonese ivory and bone carving. Modern versions in bone and resin are common in decorative strands. Genuinely hard to make and genuinely fragile. Treat openwork pieces gently.
Conch
Conch (法螺珠, fa luo zhu). Tibetan: དུང (dung, "conch")
Beads cut from conch shell, usually showing a soft spiral sheen. The white conch (དུང་དཀར, dung dkar) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols in Tibetan Buddhism: its spiral turns to the right, and its sound is said to carry the Dharma. Conch beads and shell pendants appear across Himalayan strands and in Chinese court necklaces alike.
Related: Dzi Bead General · Malas 101 · Bracelets · Glass Beads · Glossary · Authenticity Guides