玻璃 (bō li) is a noun meaning 'glass' — the hard, transparent material made from melted sand and other substances. Though it looks like one word, 玻璃 is a disyllabic morpheme with no independent meaning for either character: 玻 (bō) and 璃 (li) only combine to form this single lexical unit. Neither character is used alone in modern Mandarin to mean 'glass'; they function exclusively as a fixed compound.

This word refers both to the material itself (e.g., window glass, drinking glasses) and to objects made from it (e.g., a glass cup or mirror). It appears frequently in daily life — in architecture (glass windows), household items (glass bowls), and technology (smartphone screen glass). Note that 玻璃 is uncountable when referring to the substance ('some glass'), but becomes countable with measure words like 'a piece of glass' (一块玻璃, yí kuài bōli) when referring to discrete items or fragments.