whirlwind

English

Etymology

From Middle English whirlewind, whirlewynde, equivalent to whirl +‎ wind. Compare Middle Dutch wervelwint, Old Norse hvirfilvindr.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːlwɪnd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)wɝlwɪnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

whirlwind (plural whirlwinds)

1. A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion.
   • 1668, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Fifth Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], published 1713, →OCLC, paragraph XXXVIII, page 515:

     VVhile in the mean time there iſſued out on the Eaſt-ſide a ſtrong VVind, but pure and refreſhing, vvhich dividing into ſeveral parts that turned round became ſo many innocuous VVhirl-vvinds of ſincere Air, tinctured only vvith a cool refreſhing ſmell, as if it had paſſed over ſome large field of Lilies and Roſes.

   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B. M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, / His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, / And turbulence, as if a whirlwind’s gust / Surrounded us; […]

2. (figuratively) A person or body of objects or events sweeping violently onward.

   Once he got that new scooter he turned into a whirlwind and damaged all the flowers.

   The weeks leading up to the convention were a whirlwind of preparation and hurried activity.

Hyponyms

• dust devil
• fire whirl
• landspout
• tornado
• waterspout

Derived terms

• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind

Translations

violent windstorm of limited extent characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air

• Albanian: shakullinë (sq) f
• Arabic: زَوْبَعَة f (zawbaʕa)
• Armenian: մրրիկ (hy) (mrrik)
• Azerbaijani: qasırğa, burağan, burulğan (az)
• Bashkir: ҡойон (qoyon)
• Belarusian: ві́хур m (víxur), ві́хура f (víxura)
• Breton: avel-dro (br) f
• Bulgarian: ви́хър (bg) m (víhǎr), вихрушка (bg) f (vihruška)
• Burmese: လေကတော့ (my) (leka.tau.), လေပွေ (my) (le-pwe), ရေကတော့ (my) (reka.tau.)
• Catalan: terbolí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Dungan: щүанфыр (xüanfɨr)

  Mandarin: 旋風／旋风 (zh) (xuànfēng), 飆／飙 (zh) (biāo)

• Chukchi: янрайгын (janrajgyn)
• Czech: smršť (cs) f
• Danish: hvirvelvind c
• Dutch: windhoos (nl) m or f, wervelwind (nl) m
• Esperanto: ciklono
• Estonian: tuulispask
• Finnish: pyörremyrsky (fi), pyörretuuli
• French: cyclone (fr) m
• Galician: remuíño (gl) m, voraxen f, refolión m, refolada (gl) f
• Georgian: გრიგალი (grigali), ქარიშხალი (karišxali)
• German: Wirbelwind m, Wirbelsturm (de) m
• Greek: ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos)

  Ancient: λαῖλαψ f (laîlaps)

• Greenlandic: anoraarsuaq
• Hindi: बवंडर (hi) m (bavaṇḍar), चक्रवात (hi) m (cakravāt)
• Hungarian: forgószél (hu)
• Ido: aerovortico
• Ingrian: viihkura
• Irish: cuaifeach m
• Italian: turbine (it) m
• Japanese: 旋風 (ja) (つむじかぜ, tsumujikaze)
• Kazakh: құйын (qūiyn)
• Khmer: កំបុតត្បូង (km) (kɑmbot tboung)
• Korean: 선풍 (ko) (seonpung)
• Kyrgyz: куюн (kuyun)
• Lao: ຫົວກຸດ (hūa kut), ຈັກກະວາດ (chak ka wāt)
• Latin: turbō (la) m, vertex m
• Latvian: viesulis m
• Lithuanian: viesulas m
• Macedonian: ви́ор m (víor)
• Maori: tūkauati, āwhiowhio, ānewa o te rangi, urupuhau
• Mongolian: хуй (mn) (xuj)
• Navajo: náátsʼóʼoołdísii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: virvelvind m

  Nynorsk: virvelvind m, kvervelvind

• Old English: þoden m
• Oromo: bubbee
• Ottoman Turkish: بوراغان (burağan), طولومبه (tulumba)
• Persian: گردباد (fa) (gerdbâd)
• Plautdietsch: Wirbelstorm m
• Polish: trąba powietrzna (pl)
• Portuguese: turbilhão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਵਾਵਰੋਲਾ (vāvrolā)
• Russian: вихрь (ru) m (vixrʹ), смерч (ru) m (smerč) (tornado)
• Scottish Gaelic: ioma-ghaoth f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ви̏хор m

  Roman: vȉhor (sh) m

• Slovak: víchrica f
• Slovene: vihar (sl) m
• Spanish: torbellino (es) m
• Swedish: virvelvind (sv) c
• Tagalog: buhawi, ipu-ipo
• Tajik: гирдбод (tg) (girdbod)
• Tatar: коен (qoyen)
• Telugu: సుడిగాలి (te) (suḍigāli)
• Thai: ลมวน (lom-won), พายุหมุน (paa-yú-mǔn), บ้าหมู (bâa-mǔu)
• Turkish: burağan (tr), kasırga (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́хор m (výxor)
• Uyghur: قۇيۇن (quyun)
• Uzbek: uyurma (uz), quyun (uz)
• Vietnamese: gió lốc (vi), lốc (vi)
• Welsh: troellwynt m, awel dro f, corwynt m, trowynt m

body of objects or events sweeping violently onward

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一片忙亂／一片忙乱 (yī piàn mángluàn)

• Finnish: pyörremyrsky (fi)
• German: Wirbelwind m
• Greek: λαίλαπα (el) f (laílapa), ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: virvelvind m

  Nynorsk: virvelvind m, kvervelvind

• Russian: урага́н (ru) m (uragán)
• Spanish: tromba (es)

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

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} vȉhor (sh)

Adjective

whirlwind (not comparable)

1. Rapid and minimal.

   a whirlwind tour, a whirlwind romance

   • 2016, Nina Milne, Rafael's Contract Bride, page 60:

     So you aren't deserting the Caversham ship. They'll understand. After all, their courtship was pretty whirlwind itself.

See also

• whistle-stop