whirl

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• Received-Pronunciation: /wɜːl/
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• /ʍɜːl/ without the wine–whine merger, non-rhotic
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• General-American: wûrl h
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• General-American: /(h)wɝl/
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• Ireland, Scotland: /ˈʍɪɾ(ə̯)l/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)l
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• homophone: whorl
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• CMU ARPABET: W ER1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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• CMU ARPABET 2: HH W ER1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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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”).

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.

55 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: въртене (vǎrtene) — act of whirling
• German: Wirbeln — act of whirling
• German: Wirbel — act of whirling
• Bulgarian: хаос (haos) — confused tumult
• Bulgarian: обърканост (obǎrkanost) — confused tumult
• German: Trubel — confused tumult
• German: Durcheinander — confused tumult
• German: Strudel — rapid series of events
• Bulgarian: шемет (šemet) — dizziness or giddiness
• German: Taumel — dizziness or giddiness
• German: Gewirbel — dizziness or giddiness
• German: Schwindel — dizziness or giddiness
• German: Durcheinander — dizziness or giddiness
• German: Versuch — brief experiment or trial
• German: Chance — brief experiment or trial
• Bulgarian: въртя се бързо (vǎrtja se bǎrzo) — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Czech: vířit — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Czech: točit se — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Czech: otáčet se — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Czech: kroužit — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Esperanto: giri — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Esperanto: turniĝadi — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• French: tourbillonner — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• German: wirbeln — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Icelandic: hvirfla — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Ido: vorticar — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Italian: turbinare — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Italian: piroettare — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Italian: roteare — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Māori: āwhiowhio — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Māori: kōumuumu — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Māori: tāwhirowhiro — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Norwegian: virvle — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Norwegian: snurre — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Polish: wirować — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Russian: вертеться (vertetʹsja) — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Russian: кружи́ться (kružítʹsja) — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Swedish: virvla — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Swedish: snurra — To rotate, revolve, spin rapidly
• Bulgarian: завъртам (zavǎrtam) — to make something whirl around
• Czech: vířit — to make something whirl around
• Czech: točit — to make something whirl around
• Czech: otáčet — to make something whirl around
• Czech: kroužit — to make something whirl around
• Esperanto: girigi — to make something whirl around
• German: wirbeln — to make something whirl around
• German: schnell drehen — to make something whirl around
• German: im Kreise drehen — to make something whirl around
• Malay: baling-baling — to make something whirl around
• Malay: pusing-pusing — to make something whirl around
• Māori: āwhio — to make something whirl around
• Māori: āwhiowhio — to make something whirl around
• Māori: kōumuumu — to make something whirl around
• Māori: kōripo — to make something whirl around
• Māori: tāwhiuwhiu — to make something whirl around