whirl
/(h)wɝl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.96 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The dancer whirled across the stage, stopped, and whirled around to face the audience."
- "The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon."
- "My head is whirling after all that drink."
- "My brained ^([sic]) whirled as he went on, but yet there was a fearful impression that the worst was not told."
- "The dancer whirled his partner round on her toes."
- "He whirls his sword around without delay."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /(h)wɝl/
- British English: /wɜːl/