swirl

CEFRB2

/swɜːl/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To move in a twisting circular pattern.

  2. 02

    noun

    A twisting circular movement or shape.

Examples

  • Adriano felt the wind swirl around him.

  • The wind made the sand swirl and sting.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /sweːl/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To be arranged in a twist, spiral or whorl.

  2. To circulate.

  3. To twist or whirl, as an eddy.

More examples

In context

  • I swirled my brush around in the paint.

  • She told that white boy she wasn't down with the swirl and to take himself a hike.

  • I'm baking some cheese swirls.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The strong wind made the dry leaves blank in a circular motion above the ground.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English swirlen (“to eddy, swirl”), probably from Old Norse *svirla (“to swirl”), a frequentative form of Old Norse sverra (“to swing, twirl”). Cognate with Scots swirl, sworl (“to eddy, swirl”), Norwegian Nynorsk svirla (“to whirl around; swirl”), Swedish sorla (“to murmur, buzz”), Dutch zwirrelen (“to swirl”). Compare also West Frisian swiere (“to reel, whirl”), Dutch zwieren (“to reel, swing around”), German Low German swirren (“to whizz, whirl or buzz around”), German schwirren (“to whirr, whizz, buzz”), Swedish svirra (“to whirr about, buzz, hum”), Danish svirre (“to whizz, whirr”). Related to English swarm.