How to say "spinning" in Japanese

• くるくるCommon
  adverb (with と), suru verbCovers the visual sense of spinning: something whirling round and round before your eyes, like a top or a wheel. As an onomatopoeic word it evokes the motion itself rather than naming a process.
  木の葉このはが庭にわでくるくる舞まっていた。↗

  The leaves whirled in the yard.
• 紡績ぼうせきJLPT N1approx.Common
  nounThe textile sense: spinning fibers into thread or yarn. It names the industrial process or industry, so it is the word for discussions of textile manufacture, not for anything that physically whirls.
• 空回りからまわりCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbSpinning without gripping: wheels turning uselessly in mud or snow, or an engine racing. Close to English 'spinning one's wheels', including the figurative sense of effort that gets nowhere.
  エンジンを空回からまわりさせちゃいかん。長持ながもちさせたいからね。↗

  Don't race the car. We want to make it go as far as possible.
• 脱水だっすいCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verb, intransitive verbThe laundry sense: the spin cycle that flings water out of washed clothes. Use it for the washing-machine setting or cycle; it is not a general word for spinning motion.

Use 「くるくる」 for visible whirling motion, 紡績 for spinning fibers into thread, 「空回り」 for wheels or engines spinning without grip, and 脱水 for the washing machine's spin cycle.

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

• くるくるwhirling
• 紡績ぼうせきspinning (textiles)
• 空回りからまわりracing (of an engine)
• くらくらdizzily
• 製糸せいしspinning
• 紡糸ぼうしspinning
• 脱水だっすいspinning (laundry)
• くりくりspinning