charkha

English

Mahatma Gandhi's charkha

Alternative forms

• churka

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindustani چرخہ (carxa) / चरख़ा (carxā), from Classical Persian چرخ (čarx), from Middle Persian 𐫝𐫍𐫡 (chr /⁠čahr⁠/, “wheel, cycle”), from Proto-Iranian *čaxrám, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *čakrám, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“wheel, circle”). Doublet of cycle, wheel, and chakra.

Noun

charkha (plural charkhas)

1. (Pakistan, India) A domestic spinning wheel, used mostly for spinning cotton.

Further reading

• “churka”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC, page 248.