also: みずぐるま
noun
water wheel
A wheel turned by flowing water, used historically for milling, irrigation, or power generation.
昔の村では水車で粉をひいていた。
In the old village, they ground flour using a water wheel.
noun
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.
noun
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.
古文書に「水車」とあり、刀を振り回すさまを表すと注釈されている。
In an old document, 水車 is annotated as describing the act of brandishing a sword.
Compound of 水 (water) and 車 (wheel). The reading すいしゃ is the standard Sino-Japanese on'yomi; みずぐるま is a native kun'yomi reading now largely obsolete except in historical contexts.