Phrase guide

potter's wheel

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.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A turntable type of machine used by a potter to form round pieces of pottery from wet clay.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a horizontal rotating wheel holding the clay being shaped by a potter

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the potter's wheel was invented in Asia Minor around 6500 BC

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wheel

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عَجَلَة فَخَّار (ʕajalat faḵḵār) — machine used by a potter
  • Armenian: դուրգ (durg) — machine used by a potter
  • Azerbaijani: dulus dəzgahı — machine used by a potter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陶工旋盤 /陶工旋盘 (táogōng xuánpán) — machine used by a potter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鈞 /钧 (jūn) — machine used by a potter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陶鈞 /陶钧 (táojūn) — machine used by a potter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陶輪 /陶轮 (táolún) — machine used by a potter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 拉坯輪 /拉坯轮 (lāpīlún) — machine used by a potter
  • Czech: hrnčířský kruh — machine used by a potter
  • Danish: drejeskive — machine used by a potter
  • Danish: pottemagerhjul — machine used by a potter
  • Dutch: pottenbakkersschijf — machine used by a potter
  • Finnish: dreija — machine used by a potter
  • Finnish: savenvalajan pyörä — machine used by a potter
  • Finnish: vääntöpyörä — machine used by a potter
  • French: tour de potier — machine used by a potter
  • German: Töpferscheibe — machine used by a potter
  • Ancient Greek: κεραμεικός τροχός (kerameikós trokhós) — machine used by a potter
  • Hebrew: אָבְנָיִם (ovnáyim) — machine used by a potter
  • Hungarian: fazekaskorong — machine used by a potter
  • Irish: roth potaire — machine used by a potter
  • Italian: ruota del vasaio — machine used by a potter
  • Japanese: 轆轤 (rokuro) — machine used by a potter
  • Macedonian: гр́нчарско ко́лце (gŕnčarsko kólce) — machine used by a potter
  • Macedonian: гр́нчарско тр́кало (gŕnčarsko tŕkalo) — machine used by a potter
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dreieskive — machine used by a potter
  • Persian: چرخ سفالگری (čarx-e sofâlgari) — machine used by a potter
  • Persian: چرخ کوزهگری (čarx-e kuze-gari) — machine used by a potter
  • Plautdietsch: Dreischiew — machine used by a potter
  • Polish: koło garncarskie — machine used by a potter
  • Portuguese: roda de oleiro — machine used by a potter
  • Russian: гонча́рный круг (gončárnyj krug) — machine used by a potter
  • Spanish: torno de alfarero — machine used by a potter
  • Swedish: drejning — machine used by a potter
  • Swedish: drejskiva — machine used by a potter
  • Turkish: çömlekçi çarkı — machine used by a potter
  • Ukrainian: гонча́рний круг (hončárnyj kruh) — machine used by a potter
  • Welsh: troell crochenydd — machine used by a potter