flywheel
noun
flywheel is spelled F-L-Y-W-H-E-E-L: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, flywheel means “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…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flywheel is flywheels.
How many letters and syllables are in flywheel?
| Letters | 8: F-L-Y-W-H-E-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is flywheel?
Flywheel appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce flywheel?
- US
Flywheel has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-flywheel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of flywheel
- flywheels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flywheel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flywheel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense rotating mass:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | volant, volant d'inertie |
| German | Schwungrad |
| Portuguese | volante |
| Spanish | volante, volante inercial |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does flywheel come from?
From fly + wheel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).