tornado

See also: Tornado, tornádo, and tornádó

English

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: tô(r)-nā'dō, IPA^(key): /tɔː(ɹ)ˈneɪ.dəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tɔɹˈneɪ.doʊ/, /tɔɹˈneɪˌdoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

tornado (plural tornadoes or tornados)

A tornado in Oklahoma

2. (meteorology) A violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground.

   Synonym: twister

   • 2013 March, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 1 May 2013, page 114:

     An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

Synonyms

• twister (informal)

Hypernyms

• whirlwind

Coordinate terms

• derecho
• dust devil
• fire whirl
• landspout
• plow wind
• waterspout

 

Derived terms

• horse tornado
• rope tornado
• stovepipe tornado
• Tornado Alley
• tornado brain
• tornado chaser
• tornado fry
• tornado hunter
• tornado omelette
• tornado omurice
• tornado outbreak
• tornado potato
• tornado shelter
• tornado siren
• tornado warning (“a tornado has been sighted”)
• tornado watch (“conditions are favorable for producing a tornado”)
• wedge tornado

 

Descendants

• → Danish: tornado
• → Irish: tornádó
• → Italian: tornado
• → Norwegian Bokmål: tornado
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: tornado
• → Russian: торнадо (tornado)
• → Spanish: tornado
  • → Dutch: tornado
  • → German: Tornado
  • → Portuguese: tornado

Translations

violent windstorm

• Adyghe: гъуэжькуий (ğʷɛźkʷujij)
• Arabic: إِعْصَار m (ʔiʕṣār)
• Armenian: պտտահողմ (hy) (pttahoġm)
• Bulgarian: торна̀до n (tornàdo), смерч m (smerč)
• Burmese: လေဆင်နှာမောင်း (my) (lehcanghnamaung:)
• Catalan: tornado (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎤᏃᎴ (unole), ᎠᎦᎷᎦ (agaluga)
• Cheyenne: hevovetāso
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 龍捲風 / 龙卷风 (zh) (lǒngjuǎnfēng)

• Crimean Tatar: şeytan toyu
• Czech: tornádo (cs) n
• Danish: tornado c, hvirvelstorm c
• Dutch: tornado (nl)
• Esperanto: tornado (eo)
• Faroese: melduródn f
• Finnish: tornado (fi), trombi (fi), pyörremyrsky (fi)
• French: tornade (fr) f
• Georgian: გრიალი (griali)
• German: Tornado (de) m, Windhose (de) m (literally “wind trousers”)
• Greek: ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos), σίφουνας (el) m (sífounas)

  Ancient: λαῖλαψ f (laîlaps)

• Hindi: बवंडर (hi) m (bavaṇḍar)
• Hungarian: tornádó (hu)
• Icelandic: skýstrokkur m, hvirfilbylur m
• Indonesian: tornado (id)
• Inuktitut: ᐅᓚᔪᔭᖅ (olayoyaq)
• Irish: tornádó m
• Italian: tornado (it) m, tromba d'aria f
• Japanese: 竜巻 (ja) (たつまき, tatsumaki), トルネード (ja) (torunēdo)
• Kannada: ತುಫಾನು (kn) (tuphānu), ಬಿರುಗಾಳಿ (kn) (birugāḷi), ಸುಂಟರಗಾಳಿ (kn) (suṇṭaragāḷi)
• Kazakh: құйын (qūiyn)
• Khmer: ខ្យល់ព្យុះ (khyɑl pyuh)
• Korean: 폭풍 (ko) (pokpung), 토네이도 (toneido)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bablîsok (ku)

• Latin: turbō (la) m, vertex m
• Latvian: virpuļviesulis m
• Lithuanian: viesulas m, tornadas (lt) m, trombas m
• Malagasy: rambondanitra (mg)
• Malay: puting beliung (ms)
• Malayalam: ചുഴലിക്കാറ്റ് (ml) (cuḻalikkāṟṟŭ), കൊടുങ്കാറ്റ് (ml) (koṭuṅkāṟṟŭ)
• Mingrelian: ტორნადო (ṭornado)
• Mongolian: хар салхи (xar salxi)
• Navajo: níyoltsoh
• Northern Sotho: sedukaduka
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tornado (no) m, skypumpe m or f, virvelstorm m

  Nynorsk: tornado m, skypumpe f, kvervelstorm m, virvelstorm m

• O'odham: siwulogi
• Old English: þoden m
• Ottoman Turkish: بوراغان (burağan), طولومبه (tulumba)
• Plautdietsch: Wirbelstorm m
• Polish: trąba powietrzna (pl) f, tornado (pl) m
• Portuguese: ciclone (pt) m, tornado (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਬਵੰਡਰ (bavaṇḍar)
• Romanian: tornadă (ro) f
• Russian: смерч (ru) m (smerč), торна́до (ru) m (tornádo)
• Sanskrit: चक्रवातः (sa) m (cakravātaḥ)
• Scots: tornado
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: то̀рна̄до m

  Roman: tòrnādo (sh) m

• Spanish: tornado (es) m
• Swahili: tufani (sw) m
• Swedish: tornado (sv), tromb (sv) c
• Tagalog: buhawi, ipo-ipo
• Tajik: гирдбод (tg) (girdbod)
• Tamil: சூறாவளி (ta) (cūṟāvaḷi)
• Telugu: గాలివాన (te) (gālivāna), గాలికసురు (gālikasuru), ప్రచండమారుతము (pracaṇḍamārutamu)
• Thai: ทอร์นาโด (tɔɔ-naa-doo)
• Tibetan: རླུང་འཁོར་འཚུབ (rlung 'khor 'tshub)
• Tigrinya: ህቦብላ ንፋስ (həbobla nəfas)
• Turkish: hortum (tr)
• Ukrainian: смерч m (smerč)
• Uyghur: قۇيۇن (quyun)
• Uzbek: tornado (uz)
• Vietnamese: vòi rồng (vi), lốc xoáy (vi)
• Welsh: gyrwynt m

Verb

tornado (third-person singular simple present tornados, present participle tornadoing, simple past and past participle tornadoed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To sweep through something violently.
   • 2012, Robin Nicole, For the Sake of Appearances:

     And so on Friday nights, James Torin tornadoed through six beers, a carton of cigarettes, a coffee table littered with lottery tickets, and unrequited dreams.

   • 2015, James Richardson, Reservations: Poems, page 5:

     They come every night,
     those cavernous trains, tornadoing
     the frozen house,
     a madness feeling for the door.

See also

• cyclone, dust devil, waterspout, willy willy
• hurricane, typhoon
• tournedo(s)

Anagrams

• donator, odorant, tandoor

Danish

Etymology

From English tornado.

Noun

tornado c (singular definite tornadoen, plural indefinite tornadoer)

1. tornado

Inflection

Declension of tornado

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	tornado	tornadoen	tornadoer	tornadoerne
genitive	tornados	tornadoens	tornadoers	tornadoernes

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

tornado f or m (plural tornado's, diminutive tornadootje n)

1. tornado

Esperanto

Tornado en Oklahomo

Etymology

From French tornade, Italian tornado, German Tornado, Yiddish טאָרנאַדאָ (tornado), Russian торна́до (tornádo), Polish tornado, all derived from English tornado, from Spanish tronada (“thunderstorm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [torˈnado]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ado
• Hyphenation: tor‧na‧do

Noun

tornado (accusative singular tornadon, plural tornadoj, accusative plural tornadojn)

1. (meteorology) tornado

   Mia kuzino loĝis en Kansaso kaj spertis multajn danĝerajn tornadojn.

   My cousin lived in Kansas and experienced many dangerous tornadoes.

Finnish

Etymology

From English tornado, from Spanish tronada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtornɑdo/, [ˈt̪o̞rnɑ̝do̞]
• Rhymes: -ornɑdo
• Hyphenation^(key): tor‧na‧do

Noun

tornado

1. tornado

Declension

Inflection of tornado (Kotus type 2/palvelu, no gradation)
nominative		tornado	tornadot
genitive		tornadon	tornadojen tornadoiden tornadoitten
partitive		tornadoa	tornadoja tornadoita
illative		tornadoon	tornadoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		tornado	tornadot
accusative	nom.	tornado	tornadot
	gen.	tornadon
genitive		tornadon	tornadojen tornadoiden tornadoitten
partitive		tornadoa	tornadoja tornadoita
inessive		tornadossa	tornadoissa
elative		tornadosta	tornadoista
illative		tornadoon	tornadoihin
adessive		tornadolla	tornadoilla
ablative		tornadolta	tornadoilta
allative		tornadolle	tornadoille
essive		tornadona	tornadoina
translative		tornadoksi	tornadoiksi
abessive		tornadotta	tornadoitta
instructive		—	tornadoin
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of tornado (Kotus type 2/palvelu, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative tornadoni tornadoni accusative nom. tornadoni tornadoni gen. tornadoni genitive tornadoni tornadojeni tornadoideni tornadoitteni partitive tornadoani tornadojani tornadoitani inessive tornadossani tornadoissani elative tornadostani tornadoistani illative tornadooni tornadoihini adessive tornadollani tornadoillani ablative tornadoltani tornadoiltani allative tornadolleni tornadoilleni essive tornadonani tornadoinani translative tornadokseni tornadoikseni abessive tornadottani tornadoittani instructive — — comitative — tornadoineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative tornadosi tornadosi accusative nom. tornadosi tornadosi gen. tornadosi genitive tornadosi tornadojesi tornadoidesi tornadoittesi partitive tornadoasi tornadojasi tornadoitasi inessive tornadossasi tornadoissasi elative tornadostasi tornadoistasi illative tornadoosi tornadoihisi adessive tornadollasi tornadoillasi ablative tornadoltasi tornadoiltasi allative tornadollesi tornadoillesi essive tornadonasi tornadoinasi translative tornadoksesi tornadoiksesi abessive tornadottasi tornadoittasi instructive — — comitative — tornadoinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative tornadomme tornadomme accusative nom. tornadomme tornadomme gen. tornadomme genitive tornadomme tornadojemme tornadoidemme tornadoittemme partitive tornadoamme tornadojamme tornadoitamme inessive tornadossamme tornadoissamme elative tornadostamme tornadoistamme illative tornadoomme tornadoihimme adessive tornadollamme tornadoillamme ablative tornadoltamme tornadoiltamme allative tornadollemme tornadoillemme essive tornadonamme tornadoinamme translative tornadoksemme tornadoiksemme abessive tornadottamme tornadoittamme instructive — — comitative — tornadoinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative tornadonne tornadonne accusative nom. tornadonne tornadonne gen. tornadonne genitive tornadonne tornadojenne tornadoidenne tornadoittenne partitive tornadoanne tornadojanne tornadoitanne inessive tornadossanne tornadoissanne elative tornadostanne tornadoistanne illative tornadoonne tornadoihinne adessive tornadollanne tornadoillanne ablative tornadoltanne tornadoiltanne allative tornadollenne tornadoillenne essive tornadonanne tornadoinanne translative tornadoksenne tornadoiksenne abessive tornadottanne tornadoittanne instructive — — comitative — tornadoinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative tornadonsa tornadonsa accusative nom. tornadonsa tornadonsa gen. tornadonsa genitive tornadonsa tornadojensa tornadoidensa tornadoittensa partitive tornadoaan tornadoansa tornadojaan tornadoitaan tornadojansa tornadoitansa inessive tornadossaan tornadossansa tornadoissaan tornadoissansa elative tornadostaan tornadostansa tornadoistaan tornadoistansa illative tornadoonsa tornadoihinsa adessive tornadollaan tornadollansa tornadoillaan tornadoillansa ablative tornadoltaan tornadoltansa tornadoiltaan tornadoiltansa allative tornadolleen tornadollensa tornadoilleen tornadoillensa essive tornadonaan tornadonansa tornadoinaan tornadoinansa translative tornadokseen tornadoksensa tornadoikseen tornadoiksensa abessive tornadottaan tornadottansa tornadoittaan tornadoittansa instructive — — comitative — tornadoineen tornadoinensa

See also

• pyörremyrsky
• trombi

Further reading

• “tornado”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

Galician

Participle

tornado (feminine tornada, masculine plural tornados, feminine plural tornadas)

1. past participle of tornar

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English tornado.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /torˈna.do/
• Rhymes: -ado
• Hyphenation: tor‧nà‧do

Noun

tornado m (invariable)

1. tornado

Further reading

• tornado in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• rotando, rotonda

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Spanish tronada, via English tornado.

Noun

tornado m (definite singular tornadoen, indefinite plural tornadoer, definite plural tornadoene)

1. (meteorology) a tornado

References

• “tornado” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Spanish tronada, via English tornado.

Noun

tornado m (definite singular tornadoen, indefinite plural tornadoar, definite plural tornadoane)

1. (meteorology) a tornado

References

• “tornado” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

tornado

Etymology

Borrowed from English tornado.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔrˈna.dɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -adɔ
• Syllabification: tor‧na‧do

Noun

tornado n (indeclinable)

1. (meteorology) tornado, twister, whirlwind (violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground)

   Synonyms: cyklon, trąba, trąba powietrzna

2. (figurative) tsunami (violent event that changes or completely shatters the previous state of something)

   Synonym: tsunami

3. (figurative) tsunami, flood (appearance of some emotion, behavior, or phenomenon in large quantities or in high intensity) [with genitive]

   Synonyms: natłok, tsunami

Declension

Declension of tornado

	singular	plural
nominative	tornado	tornada
genitive	tornada	tornad
dative	tornadu	tornadom
accusative	tornado	tornada
instrumental	tornadem	tornadami
locative	tornadzie	tornadach
vocative	tornado	tornada

or

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• tornado in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• tornado in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• tornado in PWN's encyclopedia

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /toʁˈna.du/ [toɦˈna.du]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /toʁˈna.du/ [toɦˈna.du]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /toɾˈna.du/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /toʁˈna.du/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /toɻˈna.do/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuɾˈna.du/ [tuɾˈna.ðu]

• Hyphenation: tor‧na‧do

Noun

tornado m (plural tornados)

1. (meteorology) tornado

Participle

tornado (feminine tornada, masculine plural tornados, feminine plural tornadas)

1. past participle of tornar

Scots

Etymology

From English tornado.

Noun

tornado (plural tornadoes)

1. tornado

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Spanish tornado.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tǒrnaːdo/
• Hyphenation: tor‧na‧do

Noun

tòrnādo m (Cyrillic spelling то̀рна̄до)

1. tornado

Declension

Declension of tornado

	singular	plural
nominative	tornado	tornada
genitive	tornada	tornada
dative	tornadu	tornadima
accusative	tornado	tornada
vocative	tornado	tornada
locative	tornadu	tornadima
instrumental	tornadom	tornadima

References

• “tornado”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English tornado, and this in turn from Spanish tronada (see English etymology for details).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toɾˈnado/ [t̪oɾˈna.ð̞o]
• Rhymes: -ado
• Syllabification: tor‧na‧do

Noun

tornado m (plural tornados)

1. tornado

Related terms

• anticiclón m
• ciclón m
• huracán m
• remolino m
• tifón m
• torbellino m

 

Participle

tornado (feminine tornada, masculine plural tornados, feminine plural tornadas)

1. past participle of tornar

Further reading

• “tornado”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Anagrams

• tronado, rotando

Swedish

Noun

tornado c

1. a larger tornado (especially in the US)

   Synonym: (more general) tromb

Declension

Declension of tornado

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	tornado	tornados
	definite	tornadon	tornadons
plural	indefinite	tornados, tornador	tornados, tornadors
	definite	tornadorna	tornadornas

References

• tornado in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• tornado in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• tornado in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)