typhoon

CEFRB2

/taɪˈfuːn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A powerful tropical storm with very strong winds.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A weather phenomenon in the northwestern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane except for its geographical region, typically resulting in wind speeds of 64 knots (119 km/h) or above. Equivalent to a cyclone in the Indian Ocean and Indonesia and...

Examples

  • The meeting was canceled because of the typhoon.

  • The tree fell over in the typhoon.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /taɪˈfun/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. To swirl like a hurricane.

  2. A severe tropical cyclone; an intense, rotating storm.

  3. A weather phenomenon in the northwestern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane except for its geographical region, typically resulting in wind speeds of 64 knots (119 km/h) or above. Equivalent to a cyclone in the Indian Ocean and Indonesia and Australia.

More examples

In context

  • Near-synonyms: cyclone (narrow sense), hurricane

Synonyms

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Nearby

Origin

noun

English texts mention typhon, tiphon as a Greek word for "whirlwind" since at least the 1550s, referring to Ancient Greek τυφῶν (tuphôn), τυφώς (tuphṓs, “whirlwind”) (the latter attested since Aeschylus), Τυφῶν (Tuphôn, “Typhon, father of the winds”). (French typhon (“whirlwind”) is said to be attested since 1504.) However, the first use of it as an English word for a whirlwind or storm dates to 1588, in the spelling Touffon, in the specific sense "giant storm in the Pacific"; this sense first appears in Europe in the mid 16th century in Portuguese tufão (attested since at least 1560), whence it entered English. Portuguese sailors likely got the word from Arabic طُوفَان (ṭūfān) (compare Per...