whorl

English

Etymology

From alteration of whirl (verb).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wôrl, wûrl, IPA^(key): /(h)wɔː(ɹ)l/, /(h)wɜː(ɹ)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)l, -ɜː(ɹ)l
• Homophone: whirl

Noun

whorl (plural whorls)

Main whorled patterns.

1. Each circle, volution or equivalent in a pattern of concentric circles, ovals, arcs, or a spiral.
2. (botany) A circle of three or more leaves, flowers, or other organs, about the same part or joint of a stem.
3. (zoology) A volution, or turn, of the spire of a univalve shell.
4. (anatomy) Any volution, as for example in the human ear or fingerprint.
5. A flywheel, a weight attached to a spindle. [from c. 1460]

Derived terms

• whorl foot
• whorl snail

 

Translations

pattern of concentric circles.

• Dutch: kringel (nl) m, wervel (nl) m, winding (nl) f, wartel (nl) m, werdel (nl) m
• Finnish: pyörre (fi)
• French: volute (fr) f
• German: Wirbel (de) m, Kringel (de) m, Windung (de) f
• Maori: tōrino
• Persian: پیچاپیچ (fa) (pičâpič)

circle of three or more leaves, flowers, or other organs.

• Bulgarian: венче (bg) n (venče)
• Czech: přeslen (cs) m
• Dutch: bladerkrans f
• Finnish: kiehkura (fi)
• French: verticille (fr) m
• Portuguese: verticilo m
• Romanian: verticil (ro) n

volution, or turn, of the spire of a univalve shell.

• Bulgarian: витка (vitka)
• Finnish: kierre (fi)
• French: tour de spire m

weight attached to a spindle

• Albanian: qerthull (sq) m, agërshak (sq) m,
• Armenian: լիսեռ (hy) (liseṙ)
• Catalan: tortera (ca) f, fusaiola (ca) f
• Danish: tenvægt c
• Dutch: spinsteen m, spinsteentje n, spinschijf f
• Finnish: värttinänkehrä
• French: fusaïole (fr) f
• Galician: fusaiola f
• German: Spinnwirtel m
• Greek: σφοντύλι (el) n (sfontýli)
• Icelandic: snældusnúður
• Irish: roithleán eiteáin m
• Italian: fusaiolo m
• Norwegian: håndteinsnelle
• Portuguese: fusaiola f
• Romansch: rudella dal fis f
• Russian: пря́слице (ru) (prjáslice), пря́сло (ru) (prjáslo), пря́слень (ru) (prjáslenʹ)
• Spanish: fusayola (es) f, tortera (es) f
• Swedish: sländtrissa (sv) c, trissa (sv) c
• Welsh: chwerfan f

Verb

whorl (third-person singular simple present whorls, present participle whorling, simple past and past participle whorled)

1. (intransitive) To form a pattern of concentric circles.
   • 2008 February 12, Jennifer Dunning, “Modern Style, Old-Fashioned Virtues”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     “Waves Against the Sand,” to music by Martinu, which opened the program, filled the stage space with whorling patterns of dancers surging with the gentle but ceaseless momentum of the sea.

References

• “whorl”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “whorl”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• whorl, Glossary of Terms, American Rhododendron Society