rotate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rotātus, perfect passive participle of rotō (“revolve”), from rota (“wheel”).

Pronunciation

(UK) enPR: rōtāt', IPA^(key): /ɹəʊˈteɪt/
(US) enPR: rō'tāt, IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊteɪt/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: (UK) -eɪt

Verb

rotate (third-person singular simple present rotates, present participle rotating, simple past and past participle rotated)

(intransitive) To spin, turn, or revolve.
He rotated in his chair to face me.

The earth rotates.
(intransitive) To advance through a sequence; to take turns.
The nurses' shifts rotate each week.
(intransitive, of aircraft) To lift the nose during takeoff, just prior to liftoff.
The aircraft rotates at sixty knots.
(transitive) To spin, turn, or revolve something.
Rotate the dial to the left.
(transitive) To advance something through a sequence; to allocate or deploy in turns.
- 1975, “Architectural Digest”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 32, page 112:
  I've always admired the Japanese point of view that holds it best not to have a great number of objects around at one time but to rotate possessions — and display them with great simplicity.
(transitive) To replace older materials or to place older materials in front of newer ones so that older ones get used first.
The supermarket rotates the stock daily so that old foods don't sit around.
(transitive) To grow or plant (crops) in a certain order.

Usage notes

"Rotate about" implies that the object is spinning in place (i.e. the defined axis passes through through some internal point of the object), while "rotate around" implies that the object is orbiting an external point.

Conjugation

Conjugation of rotate

infinitive	(to) rotate
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	rotate	rotated
2nd-person singular	rotate, rotatest^†	rotated, rotatedst^†
3rd-person singular	rotates, rotateth^†	rotated
plural	rotate	rotated

subjunctive	rotate	rotated

imperative	rotate	—

participles	rotating	rotated

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

(to turn) revolve
(to make turn) circumvolve

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

→ Finnish: rotatoida

Translations

to spin, turn, or revolve

Armenian: պտտվել (hy) (pttvel)
Azerbaijani: fırlanmaq (az)
Belarusian: абарача́цца impf (abaračácca), абараці́цца pf (abaracícca), абярну́цца pf (abjarnúcca)
Bulgarian: въртя се (vǎrtja se)
Cherokee: ᎠᏗᏆᎸᏕᏲᎭ (adiqualvdeyoha)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 旋转 (zh)，转动 (zh)
Czech: otočit (cs)
Dutch: roteren (nl), ronddraaien (nl)
Finnish: pyöriä (fi), pyörittää (fi), kääntyä (fi)
French: tourner (fr), rotationner (fr), rotater (fr)
Galician: xirar (gl)
German: sich drehen (de), rotieren (de)
Greek: περιστρέφομαι (el) (peristréfomai)
Hungarian: pörög (hu), forog (hu)
Ingrian: pööriä
Italian: ruotare (it)
Japanese: 回る (ja) (mawaru)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: چەرخاندن (çerxandin), سوراندن (surandin)
Kyrgyz: айлануу (ky) (aylanuu)
Malayalam: തിരിയുക (ml) (tiriyuka), കറങ്ങുക (ml) (kaṟaṅṅuka)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: rotere

Nynorsk: rotere
Ottoman Turkish: دونمك (dönmek)
Pashto: تاوول (ps) (tāwawəl), څرخول (carkhawəl)
Persian: چرخیدن (fa) (čarxīdan)
Polish: obrócić się (pl) pf, obracać się (pl) impf
Portuguese: rotar (pt), girar (pt), (Brazil) rotacionar, rodar (pt)
Quechua: muyuy
Romanian: roti (ro)
Russian: враща́ться (ru) impf (vraščátʹsja), верте́ться (ru) impf (vertétʹsja), крути́ться (ru) impf (krutítʹsja)
Spanish: girar (es)
Swedish: rotera (sv)
Telugu: భ్రమించు (te) (bhramiñcu), పరిభ్రమించు (te) (paribhramiñcu)
Thai: หมุน (th) (mǔn), หัน (th) (hǎn)
White Hmong: tig

to advance through a sequence; to take turns

Bulgarian: редувам се (reduvam se)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 轮换 (zh) (lúnhuàn)，轮流 (zh) (lúnliú)
Finnish: vuorotella (fi)
Greek: εναλλάσσομαι (el) (enallássomai)
Malayalam: കറങ്ങുക (ml) (kaṟaṅṅuka)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: rotere

Nynorsk: rotere
Swedish: rotera (sv)

to spin, turn, or revolve something

Arabic: أَدَارَ (ʔadāra)
Armenian: պտտել (hy) (pttel)
Bulgarian: въртя (bg) (vǎrtja)
Finnish: kääntää (fi)
French: faire tourner
Greek: περιστρέφω (el) (peristréfo)
Hungarian: forgat (hu), pörget (hu)
Japanese: 回る (ja) (mawaru)
Malayalam: തിരിക്കുക (ml) (tirikkuka), കറക്കുക (ml) (kaṟakkuka)
Polish: obrócić (pl) pf, obracać (pl) impf
Portuguese: rotar (pt), girar (pt), (Brazil) rotacionar, rodar (pt)
Russian: враща́ть (ru) impf (vraščátʹ), верте́ть (ru) impf (vertétʹ), крути́ть (ru) impf (krutítʹ)
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} hacer rodar, ^{(please verify)} girar (es)
Swedish: vända (sv)
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} తిప్పు (te) (tippu)
Thai: หมุน (th) (mǔn), หัน (th) (hǎn)
White Hmong: tig

to advance something through a sequence

Bulgarian: редувам (bg) (reduvam)

to replace older materials or to place older materials in front of newer ones

to change which tire is on each corner of the car, so that they wear evenly

Bulgarian: въртя (bg) (vǎrtja)
French: intervertir (fr), permuter (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Khmer: ត្រឡប់ (trɑlɑp)

Adjective

rotate (not comparable)

Having the parts spreading out like a wheel; wheel-shaped.
a rotate spicule or scale; a rotate corolla

Translations

wheel-shaped

Chinese:
Mandarin: 輪狀／轮状 (zh) (lúnzhuàng)

Anagrams

tore at, totear, terato-, treato

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

rotate

inflection of rotare:
1. second-person plural present indicative
2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

rotate f pl

feminine plural of rotato

Anagrams

attero, attore, ettaro, oretta, ottare, teatro, terato-

Latin

Verb

rotāte

second-person plural present active imperative of rotō

Spanish

Verb

rotate

second-person singular voseo imperative of rotar combined with te