WikiWord

English

tornado

/tɔː(ɹ)ˈneɪ.dəʊ/ · noun

Meaning

  1. A violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground.
  2. To sweep through something violently.

Etymology / origin

From earlier English ternado, attested since the 1550s as a nautical term for a windy thunderstorm. From Spanish tronada (“thunderstorm”), from tronar (“to thunder”), from Latin tonō (“to thunder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). The o and r were reversed in English (metathesis) under influence of Spanish tornar (“to twist, to turn”), from Latin tornō (“to turn”).

  1. tornō(la)
  2. tornar(Spanish)
  3. *(s)tenh₂-(ine-pro)
  4. tonō(la)
  5. tronada(Spanish)
  6. tornado (English)
  7. Relations: der, der, der, cog, cog

Related words

Descendant words

Sources

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