How to say "shaft" in Japanese

• 軸じくJLPT N1approx.Common
  noun, noun (suffix)The rod that turns in a machine or vehicle — the axle sense of 'shaft'. It also means 'axis', so it centers on something's line of rotation; a natural choice for mechanical shafts.
• シャフトCommon
  nounThe katakana loanword for the machinery sense: a machine's shaft or an axle. It overlaps with 軸 and suits contexts where the English word itself would feel natural.
  このシャフトはピストンとつながっている。↗

  This shaft links with a piston.
• 円柱えんちゅうCommon
  no-adjectiveA column or cylinder: 'shaft' here means the cylindrical body of a pillar or any cylinder-shaped solid. For a machine's rotating shaft this is not the word you want.
  ベイスギを材料ざいりょうに巨大きょだいでグロテスクな、しかし美うつくしい円柱えんちゅうを作つくった。↗

  They made huge, grotesque, yet beautiful poles of red cedar.
• 坑道こうどうCommon
  nounA mining word for an underground passage — a tunnel or gallery. 'Shaft' is among its senses and can translate that word, but it is really the mine-passage word, not a mechanical shaft.

Choose 軸 or the loanword 「シャフト」 for a machine's rotating shaft or axle; 円柱 only when 'shaft' means a column or cylinder, and 坑道 for a mine shaft or gallery.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 軸じくaxis
• シャフトshaft (e.g. machinery)
• 円柱えんちゅうcolumn
• 坑道こうどうtunnel
• 箆のshaft (of an arrow; made of bamboo)
• 心棒しんぼうshaft
• 立坑たてこうshaft (e.g. in a mine)
• 鉱坑こうこうshaft
• 竪穴たてあなpit
• 樹幹じゅかんtrunk
• 羽軸うじくrachis
• 軸棒じくぼうaxial rod
• 間歩まぶtunnel
• 幹からshaft (of an arrow)
• ステムstem (bicycle part)