Standard Lemma guide

flywheel

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F L AY1 W IY2 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A rotating mass used to maintain the speed of a machine within certain limits while the machine receives or releases energy at a varying rate, or as a form of energy storage.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: engineering, mechanical, mechanical-engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

regulator consisting of a heavy wheel that stores kinetic energy and smooths the operation of a reciprocating engine

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: governor, regulator

Narrower terms: fluid flywheel

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *plew- Proto-Indo-European *plewk- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *pléwketi Proto-Germanic *fleuganą Proto-West Germanic *fleugan Old English flēogan Middle English fliender. English fly Proto-Indo-European *kwel- Proto-Indo-European *kwekwléh2 Proto-Germanic *hweulō Old English hwēol Middle English whel English wheel English flywheel From fly + wheel.

Across languages

Translations

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: حَدَّافَة (ḥaddāfa) — rotating mass
  • Armenian: թափանիվ (tʻapʻaniv) — rotating mass
  • Azerbaijani: nazimçarx — rotating mass
  • Belarusian: махаві́к (maxavík) — rotating mass
  • Belarusian: ма́хавае ко́ла (máxavaje kóla) — rotating mass
  • Bulgarian: махови́к (mahovík) — rotating mass
  • Catalan: volant d'inèrcia — rotating mass
  • Chinese Mandarin: 飛輪 /飞轮 (fēilún) — rotating mass
  • Czech: setrvačník — rotating mass
  • Danish: svinghjul — rotating mass
  • Dutch: vliegwiel — rotating mass
  • Estonian: hooratas — rotating mass
  • Finnish: vauhtipyörä — rotating mass
  • Finnish: tasauspyörä — rotating mass
  • Finnish: vastuspyörä — rotating mass
  • French: volant — rotating mass
  • French: volant d'inertie — rotating mass
  • Galician: volante de inercia — rotating mass
  • Georgian: მქნევარა (mknevara) — rotating mass
  • German: Schwungrad — rotating mass
  • Greek: βολάν (volán) — rotating mass
  • Hindi: गतिपालक चक्र (gatipālak cakra) — rotating mass
  • Hungarian: lendkerék — rotating mass
  • Icelandic: svinghjól — rotating mass
  • Ido: flugroto — rotating mass
  • Indonesian: roda gila — rotating mass
  • Italian: volano — rotating mass
  • Japanese: フライホイール (furaihoīru) — rotating mass
  • Japanese: 弾み車 (hazumiguruma) — rotating mass
  • Japanese: 勢車 — rotating mass
  • Kashmiri: پھِروٕنؠ ژٔکھٕر (phirvụn' ċạkhụr) — rotating mass
  • Kazakh: маховик (maxovik) — rotating mass
  • Korean: 플라이휠 (peullaihwil) — rotating mass
  • Kyrgyz: маховик (mahovik) — rotating mass
  • Latvian: spararats — rotating mass
  • Lithuanian: smagratis — rotating mass
  • Macedonian: замаец (zamaec) — rotating mass
  • Māori: tōhito — rotating mass
  • Norwegian Bokmål: svinghjul — rotating mass
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: svinghjul — rotating mass
  • Persian: چرخ لنگر (čarx-e langar) — rotating mass
  • Polish: koło zamachowe — rotating mass
  • Polish: koło rozpędowe — rotating mass
  • Portuguese: volante — rotating mass
  • Romanian: volant — rotating mass
  • Russian: махови́к (maxovík) — rotating mass
  • Russian: махово́е колесо́ (maxovóje kolesó) — rotating mass
  • Serbo-Croatian: за́машња̄к — rotating mass
  • Serbo-Croatian: zámašnjāk — rotating mass
  • Slovak: zotrvačník — rotating mass
  • Slovene: vztrajnik — rotating mass
  • Spanish: volante — rotating mass
  • Spanish: volante inercial — rotating mass
  • Swedish: svänghjul — rotating mass
  • Tagalog: iikot — rotating mass
  • Thai: ล้อตุนกําลัง (lɔ́ɔ-dtun-gam-lang) — rotating mass
  • Turkish: volan — rotating mass
  • Ukrainian: махови́к (maxovýk) — rotating mass
  • Ukrainian: ма́хове ко́лесо (máxove kóleso) — rotating mass
  • Uzbek: maxovik — rotating mass
  • Vietnamese: bánh đà — rotating mass