回
kai
One turn around is one 回
The picture The same action swinging all the way around and back to where it started. Each loop clicks the counter up by one. 回 counts closed loops flatly; 度 says how far up the scale of experience the mark has climbed.
Where the picture shows up in 回
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the loop you repeat
週に三回ジムに行っています。
shū ni sankai jimu ni itte imasu
I go to the gym three times a week.
Three circles marked on the calendar for that week's gym days.
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one more loop
すみません、もう一回言ってください。
sumimasen, mō ikkai itte kudasai
Sorry, could you say that once more?
A finger drawing a loop in the air: once more, from the top.
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the prescribed number of loops
この薬は一日三回飲んでください。
kono kusuri wa ichinichi sankai nonde kudasai
Take this medicine three times a day.
The medicine sorted into three pouches — morning, noon, night.
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the loop that comes around
会議は月に二回あります。
kaigi wa tsuki ni nikai arimasu
We have a meeting twice a month.
The same mark coming round twice on this month's calendar for the meeting.
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this time around
今回は私が払います。
konkai wa watashi ga haraimasu
This one's on me.
Picking up the bill because the turn has come round to you.
The sound shifts: 一回 ikkai, 六回 rokkai, 十回 jukkai.
All of it in one picture
The gym is three loops a week, asking again is one loop more, the medicine is three loops a day, the meeting comes round twice a month, and the bill is the loop that has swung back to you. In each scene the same action goes all the way round and returns to its starting point, clicking the counter up by one. 回 doesn't measure how much time has passed — it counts how many loops have closed. That's why 回 stays flat and matter-of-fact: it reports a number and nothing more.