whir

American  

[hwur, wur] / ʰwɜr, wɜr /

Or whirr

verb (used without object)

whirred, whirring

1. to go, fly, revolve, or otherwise move quickly with a humming or buzzing sound.

   An electric fan whirred softly in the corner.

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verb (used with object)

whirred, whirring

1. to move or transport (a thing, person, etc.) with a whirring sound.

   The plane whirred them away into the night.

noun

1. an act or sound of whirring.

   the whir of wings.

whir British  

/ wɜː /

noun

1. a prolonged soft swish or buzz, as of a motor working or wings flapping

2. a bustle or rush

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verb

1. to make or cause to make a whir

Etymology

Origin of whir

1350–1400; Middle English quirre ( Scots ) < Scandinavian; compare Danish hvirre, Norwegian kvirra. See whirl

Explanation

The softly vibrating sound of something moving fast is a whir. The whir of a hummingbird's wings up close sounds a lot like a buzzing insect. Whir is one of those words like buzz, clink, and oink that sound exactly like what they mean; this effect is called onomatopoeia. You can use this one as a noun or a verb, so while your ceiling fan whirs overhead on a hot day, the whir of insects reminds you to close the window screen.

Example Sentences

Over the whine of buzzsaws and the steady whir of sanders, hundreds of Vietnamese workers in a factory outside Ho Chi Minh City hustle to fill orders for high-end furniture.

From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026

Golf cart-like vehicles guide tourists through a whir of mechanical arms and machines die casting, stamping and assembling car bodies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 4, 2026

In Boland's following over, England fell apart in a whir of loose drives.

From BBC • Nov. 22, 2025

“It’s dramatically different,” Ortíz said, the desert silent except for the crunch of his footsteps in the sand and the whir of a Border Patrol helicopter overhead.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 27, 2025

Their machines are big and shiny and they whir and hum, but do they really know more than some Stone Age witch doctor with a rattle and a gourd full of ground-up frog bones?

From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements