Recently I learned that the Japanese for dice is サイコロ.

The kanji is 塞子 which is Saizi in pinyin.

So the サイ part comes from 塞 but why katakana ?

子 is sometimes translated as こ so the コ must come from that but again why
katakana and why コロ ?

If you Google saikoro there are pictured of meat diced into little cubes. The
word dice also exists as a verb, to dice meat. Could that have played a part
in the evolution of サイコロ ?

What are peoples' thoughts ?
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2023-01-01T14:36:33.320
97895
2023-01-01T18:28:00.130
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question
etymology
What is the etymology of Saikoro (dice) and why is it written in katakana?
Originally, there is no reason to write in katakana because サイコロ isn't foreign
origin word. But サイコロ is often used now, because if we use さいころ, it is
difficult to read when it is sandwiched by other hiragana. さい of さいころ is
Chinese reading of 塞, means サイコロ used in 双六(sugoroku, dice game). And it was
attached the sufix ”ころ”. (by Wikipedia in Japanese and I translated it.)

What you find in Google is probably サイコロステーキ(diced stake). I think they're
irrelevant because the word サイコロステーキ was coined long after the word サイコロ was
coined.
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2023-01-01T18:28:00.130
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2023-01-01T18:28:00.130
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answer