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whirl

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whirl¹

  • /wɜːl/ UK
  • /ʍɜːl/
  • /(h)wɝl/ US
  • /ˈʍɪɾ(ə̯)l/ Ireland, Scotland

Sounds like whorl · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)l

Where it comes from

From Middle English whirlen, contracted from earlier *whirvelen, *whervelen, possibly from Old English *hwyrflian, *hweorflian (attested in hwirflung, hwerflung (“change, vicissitude”)), frequentative form of Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), itself from Proto-West Germanic *hwerban, from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną (“to turn”); or perhaps from Old Norse hvirfla (“to go round, spin”). Cognate with Dutch wervelen (“to whirl, swirl”), German wirbeln (“to whirl, swirl”), Danish hvirvle (“to whirl”), Swedish virvla (older spelling hvirfla), Albanian vorbull (“a whirl”). Related to whirr and wharve.

verb whirls · whirling · whirled

  1. intransitive To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly. The dancer whirled across the stage, stopped, and whirled around to face the audience.
  2. intransitive To have a sensation of spinning or reeling. My head is whirling after all that drink.

    Similar: swim, reel

  3. transitive To make something or someone whirl. The dancer whirled his partner round on her toes.
  4. transitive To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch. See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels, / That whirled the prophet up at Chebar flood.

whirl²

  • /wɜːl/ UK
  • /ʍɜːl/
  • /(h)wɝl/ US
  • /ˈʍɪɾ(ə̯)l/ Ireland, Scotland

Sounds like whorl · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)l

Where it comes from

From Middle English whirl, wherwille, whorwhil, wervel, from Old English hwirfel, hwyrfel (“whirlpool”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwirbil, from Proto-Germanic *hwirbilaz, *hwarbilaz (“swirl, whirl, whirlpool”), equivalent to wharve + -el; and also Old Norse hvirfill (“ring, circle, crown”), whence Danish hvirvel (“cowlick”), Dutch werveling (“whirling, vortex”), German Low German Warvel (“whirl, whirlpool”), German Wirbel (“whirl, whirlpool”).

noun whirls

  1. An act of whirling. She gave the top a whirl and it spun across the floor.
  2. Something that whirls, such as a whirlwind.
  3. A confused tumult.
  4. A rapid series of events. My life is one social whirl.
  5. Dizziness or giddiness. My mind was in a whirl.
  6. idiomatic, informal A brief experiment or trial. OK, let's give it a whirl.

Translations

Every language

verb To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly

Françaistourbillonner
Deutschwirbeln
Italianoturbinare, piroettare, roteare
Русскийвертеться vertetʹsja, кружи́ться kružítʹsja

verb to make something whirl around

Deutschwirbeln, schnell drehen, im Kreise drehen

noun act of whirling

DeutschWirbeln, Wirbel

noun confused tumult

DeutschTrubel, Durcheinander

noun rapid series of events

DeutschStrudel

noun dizziness or giddiness

DeutschTaumel, Gewirbel, Schwindel, Durcheinander

noun brief experiment or trial

DeutschVersuch, Chance

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MLA

"whirl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/whirl. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

whirl. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/whirl

Chicago

"whirl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/whirl.

BibTeX
@misc{whirl_2026,
  title = {whirl},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/whirl},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}