tornado
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tornado
- /tɔː(ɹ)ˈneɪ.dəʊ/ UK
- /tɔɹˈneɪ.doʊ/ US
Where it comes from
From earlier English ternado, attested since the 1550s as a nautical term for a windy thunderstorm. From Spanish tronada (“thunderstorm”), from tronar (“to thunder”), from Latin tonō (“to thunder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). The o and r were reversed in English (metathesis) under influence of Spanish tornar (“to twist, to turn”), from Latin tornō (“to turn”).
noun tornadoes · tornados
-
A violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground.
An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.
Similar: twister, whirlstorm
verb tornados · tornadoing · tornadoed
- To sweep through something violently. And so on Friday nights, James Torin tornadoed through six beers, a carton of cigarettes, a coffee table littered with lottery tickets, and unrequited dreams.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: twister, whirlwind, cyclone, hurricane, typhoon, storm, twist, alert, torpedo, rope tornado, whirlstorm, wedge tornado, turbillion, wedge, vortex, waterspout
Translations
Every language
noun violent windstorm
| Español | tornado, ciclón, tifón, huracán, baguio |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 폭풍 pokpung, 토네이도 toneido |
| 日本語 | 竜巻 tatsumaki, トルネード torunēdo |
| 中文 | 龍捲風 /龙卷风 lǒngjuǎnfēng |
| हिन्दी | बवंडर bavaṇḍar |
| Kiswahili | tufani |
| Português | ciclone, tornado |
| Français | tornade |
| Deutsch | Tornado, Windhose |
| Italiano | tornado, tromba d'aria |
| Ελληνικά | ανεμοστρόβιλος anemostróvilos, σίφουνας sífounas |
| Română | tornadă |
| Русский | смерч smerč, торна́до tornádo |
| Tiếng Việt | vòi rồng, lốc xoáy |
| العربية | إِعْصَار ʔiʕṣār |
Talk about this word "tornado." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tornado. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. tornado. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tornado "tornado." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tornado.Cite this
@misc{tornado_2026,
title = {tornado},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tornado},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
