Meaning

Primary

To Revolve

Alternatives

To Go Around, To Rotate

Word Type

intransitive verb, godan verb

Explanation

This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means times. There's no good verb for the word "times" but you can probably imagine something doing something over and over and over again. What word would represent this? It would be to revolve, to go around, or to rotate.

Bear in mind that this verb is intransitive, so it happens on its own. Something revolves or rotates, all by itself.

Reading

まわる
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:

You have a bag of walnuts that you're bringing to a friend's house but you trip and drop them all on the ground. You shout, "Mah Walnuts! (まわ)" as they start to revolve around you on the ground. Picture your walnuts going around you, getting all dirty.

Context

Common Word Combinations

  • 目が回る

    to get dizzy

    モーターが回る

    the motor turns

    カメラが回る

    the camera rolls

Context Sentences

テーブルの上で、コインが回る。

The coin spins on the table.

スシには、「回るスシ」と「回らないスシ」二つのタイプがあります。

There are two types of sushi. "Sushi that goes around" and "sushi that doesn't go around".

去年のバレンタインはクラス中を回って女子からチョコレートをもらった。

Last year on Valentine's day I went around the class and got chocolates from girls.

Kanji Composition