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pinwheel

noun

Simple meaning

An artificial flower with a stem, usually plastic, for children: the flower spins round in the wind, like a small paper windmill.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pinweel

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɪnwil

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An artificial flower with a stem, usually plastic, for children: the flower spins round in the wind, like a small paper windmill.

  2. A pastry which resembles the artificial flowers above, with some filling or topping in the center.

  3. Any food product consisting of layers (for example of pastry and sweet filling, or of bread and meat) rolled into a spiral, visually similar to a cinnamon roll.

  4. A firework which forms a kind of spinning wheel.

  5. A cogged (toothed) gear.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An artificial flower with a stem, usually plastic, for children: the flower spins round in the wind, like a small paper windmill.

Used this way, pinwheel is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Mild
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use pinwheel

  • “He spun the pinwheel and it stopped with the pointer on `Go'”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

pinwheel patternpinwheel fashionpinwheel galaxypinwheel designpinwheel plangiant pinwheelpinwheel effectpinwheel shape

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pinwheel flowernounCompound term

    Tropical shrub having glossy foliage and fragrant nocturnal flowers with crimped or wavy corollas.

  • pinwheel rollnounCompound term

    Pinwheel-shaped rolls spread with cinnamon and sugar and filled with e.g. jam before baking.

  • pinwheel wind collectornounCompound term

    A toy consisting of vanes of colored paper or plastic that is pinned to a stick and spins when it is pointed into the wind.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.