whorl

UK/(h)wɔː(ɹ)l/US/(h)wɔː(ɹ)l/

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,613 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: whorls

A whorl is a pattern of coils turning round a centre. A whorl of the shell, fingerprint whorls, a whorl of leaves.

In fingerprints it is one of the three basic patterns beside loops and arches. In botany a whorl is a ring of leaves growing from one point, and in a snail shell it is one full turn.

Definitions of whorl

1nounwhorlA pattern of coils turning round a centre.C2
“The carpenter admired the whorls in the wood where a knot had grown.”

whorl is a pattern.

Where it comes from

An alteration of whirl, first recorded in Middle English.

From alteration of whirl.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

whorl in the wild

Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers.
Petal
Petals are usually surrounded by an outer whorl of modified leaves called sepals, that collectively form the calyx.
Petal
When the rate of expansion is low, such that each subsequent whorl is not that much wider than the previous one, then the adult shell has numerous whorls.
Whorl (mollusc)
When the mathematical factors governing the pattern of growth are such that the conical diameter expands, then the adult shell has few whorls.
Whorl (mollusc)
The spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl.
Spire (mollusc)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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