also: みずぐるま
water wheel
A wheel turned by flowing water, used historically for milling, irrigation, or power generation.
In the old village, they ground flour using a water wheel.
water turbine; hydraulic turbine
A modern device that converts the energy of flowing water into rotational motion, often for generating electricity. The reading すいしゃ is especially common for this sense.
Large water turbines are used at this power plant.
violent wielding of weapons
Only with reading みずぐるま
Archaic sense, restricted to the reading みずぐるま. Refers to swinging a weapon around wildly, like a water wheel spinning. Not used in modern Japanese.
In an old document, 水車 is annotated as describing the act of brandishing a sword.
The water wheel is slowly turning beside the river.
Long ago, wheat was ground here using this water wheel.
This facility generates electricity using a water turbine.
axial flow turbine
reversible pump-turbine