Meanings
plural water wheels · alternative waterwheel · alternative water-wheel
- A wheel, propelled by running or falling water, used to power machinery.
"Yes, yes, I'll tell you the road directly, it's it's straight on through the wood till you come to the big water-wheel!"
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 2781 more example
Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2013
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA wheel with buckets used to raise water.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna wheel with buckets attached to its rim; raises water from a stream or pond
nouna wheel that rotates by direct action of water; a simple turbine
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans waterwiel
- waterwielwheel propelled by water
Bulgarian водно колело
- водно колело (vodno kolelo)wheel propelled by water
Catalan roda hidràulica
- roda hidràulicawheel propelled by water
Chinese Mandarin 水車 /水车, 水輪 /水轮
- 水車 /水车 (shuǐchē)wheel propelled by water
- 水輪 /水轮 (shuǐlún)wheel propelled by water
- 水輪 /水轮 (shuǐlún)wheel to raise water
Czech vodní kolo
- vodní kolowheel propelled by water
Danish møllehjul
- møllehjulwheel propelled by water
Dutch waterrad
- waterradwheel propelled by water
Esperanto akvorado
- akvoradowheel propelled by water
Finnish vesipyörä, vesipyörä
- vesipyöräwheel propelled by water
- vesipyöräwheel to raise water
French roue à aubes
- roue à aubeswheel propelled by water
German Wasserrad
- Wasserradwheel propelled by water
Hebrew גלגל מים
- גלגל מיםwheel propelled by water
Hindi पनचक्की
- पनचक्की (pancakkī)wheel propelled by water
Icelandic vatnshjól
- vatnshjólwheel propelled by water
Indonesian kincir air, kincir air
- kincir airwheel propelled by water
- kincir airwheel to raise water
Italian bindolo, ruota idraulica
- bindolowheel propelled by water
- ruota idraulicawheel propelled by water
Japanese 水車
- 水車 (suisha)wheel propelled by water
Korean 수차
- 수차 (sucha)wheel propelled by water
Latvian ūdensrats
- ūdensratswheel propelled by water
Lithuanian vandens ratas
- vandens rataswheel propelled by water
Norwegian vannhjul
- vannhjulwheel propelled by water
Persian چرخ آبی, دولابه
- چرخ آبیwheel propelled by water
- دولابهwheel to raise water
Polish koło wodne, koło wodne
- koło wodnewheel propelled by water
- koło wodnewheel to raise water
Portuguese roda de água
- roda de águawheel propelled by water
Russian водяно́е колесо́
- водяно́е колесо́ (vodjanóje kolesó)wheel propelled by water
Slovak vodné koleso
- vodné kolesowheel propelled by water
Spanish rueda hidráulica, azud
- rueda hidráulicawheel propelled by water
- azudwheel to raise water
- azudawheel to raise water
- aceñawheel to raise water
- noriawheel to raise water
- aguaduchowheel to raise water
- ceñawheel to raise water
- ceniawheel to raise water
Swedish vattenhjul
- vattenhjulwheel propelled by water
Tagalog lagumba
- lagumbawheel propelled by water
Turkish su çarkı
- su çarkıwheel propelled by water
Ukrainian водяне колесо
- водяне колесо (vodjane koleso)wheel propelled by water
Vietnamese bánh xe nước
- bánh xe nướcwheel propelled by water
Cite this entry
water wheel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20wheel
“water wheel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20wheel. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “water wheel,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20wheel.
Source: water wheel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.