different between cyclone vs maelstrom

English

Etymology

Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either ?????? (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or ?????? (kukló?, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle ?????? (kuklôn). See cycle and wheel.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?sa?.klo?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sa?.kl??n/

Noun

cyclone (plural cyclones)

1. (broad sense) A weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a center of low atmospheric pressure
2. (narrow sense) Such weather phenomenon occurring in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean
3. A low pressure system.
4. (informal) The more or less violent, small-scale circulations such as tornadoes, waterspouts, and dust devils.
5. A strong wind.
6. A cyclone separator; the cylindrical vortex tube within such a separator

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:cyclone.

Derived terms

• anticyclone
• cyclone cellar
• cyclone pit

Translations

Verb

cyclone (third-person singular simple present cyclones, present participle cycloning, simple past and past participle cycloned)

1. This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
   • 1997, D. J. H. Jones, Murder in the New Age

     White dust was cycloning at the bottom of ravines that cut for miles into the red flatness

   • 2015, Robert J. Morgan, Mastering Life Before It's Too Late

     Now, all of a sudden, I had to juggle class schedules with study time and assignment deadlines and work hours. It quickly cycloned into a sort of frantic agitation with all-nighters, near misses, and frenzied nerves.

See also

• hurricane
• typhoon
• polar vortex
• cyclone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ?????? (kuklôn), present active participle of ?????? (kukló?, “I encircle”), from ?????? (kúklos, “circle”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.klon/

Noun

cyclone m (plural cyclones)

1. cyclone (rotating system of winds)

Further reading

• “cyclone” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

Originally the name of a giant whirlpool supposed to exist off the west coast of Norway in the Arctic Ocean which was said to destroy all ships that came close to it, borrowed from early modern Dutch maelstrom (“whirlpool”) (obsolete) (modern Dutch maalstroom), from malen (“to whirl around; to grind”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh?- (“to crush, grind”)) + stroom (“stream; river; current or flow of water or other liquid”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow, stream”)). The English word is cognate with Danish malstrøm, German Mahlstrom.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?me?lst??m/, /-st??m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?me?l?st??m/, /?me?lzt??m/
• Hyphenation: mael?strom

Noun

maelstrom (plural maelstroms)

1. A large and violent whirlpool.
2. (figuratively) A chaotic or turbulent situation.

Alternative forms

• maelström (dated)

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• whirlpool on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Maelstrom”, in The Merriam–Webster New Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1991, ?ISBN, page 300.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “maelstrom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary