Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A spinning wheel used in India for spinning cotton.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun in India A domestic spinning wheel, used mostly for spinning cotton

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi carkhā, from Persian charkha, diminutive of charkh, wheel, from Old Persian *carka-; see kwel- in Indo-European roots.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word charkha.

Examples

  • One nice feature of the charkha is that there's a skein winder included.

    September 2007 2007

  • The charkha is a spinning device developed in India, and is used primarily for spinning fine cotton thread, and spinning it quickly.

    September 2007 2007

  • Mine is a largish charkha (attache size, I think.)

    September 2007 2007

  • But I've been obsessing over a great wheel for a while, and since I can't afford one of those in the foreseeable future, I figured it was time to see if I could get my charkha to work.

    September 2007 2007

  • I have had an Indian charkha sitting in my closet for years now.

    September 2007 2007

  • I have to tell you, that dratted thick belt was one of the reasons the charkha sat in my closet for all these years.

    September 2007 2007

  • But I don't think I've every actually seen anybody else with a charkha in real life.

    September 2007 2007

  • I've always wondered about all of the parts of a charkha and how you actually spin on one ..

    Learning new things: Charkha spinning, part 2 2007

  • (Yeah, I could probably have gotten more on there, but it's my first large amount of yarn spun on the charkha.)

    September 2007 2007

  • Belts: The charkha originally came with a thick cotton cord belt for the main wheel and a string belt for the accelerating wheel:

    September 2007 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.