A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid or air flow and convert it into useful work. The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum, with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor. Early turbine examples are windmills and water wheels.

A turbocharger, or turbo, is a gas compressor used for forced-induction of an internal combustion engine. A form of supercharger, the purpose of a turbocharger is to increase the density of air entering the engine to create more power. However, a turbocharger has the compressor powered by a turbine, driven by the engine's own exhaust gases, rather than direct mechanical drive as with many other superchargers.