whorl

American  

[hwurl, hwawrl, wurl, wawrl] / ʰwɜrl, ʰwɔrl, wɜrl, wɔrl /

noun

1. a circular arrangement of like parts, as leaves or flowers, around a point on an axis; verticil.

2. one of the turns or volutions of a spiral shell.

3. anything shaped like a coil.

4. one of the central ridges of a fingerprint, forming at least one complete circle.

5. Textiles. a flywheel or pulley, as for a spindle.

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whorl British  

/ wɜːl /

noun

1. botany a radial arrangement of three or more petals, stamens, leaves, etc, around a stem

2. zoology a single turn in a spiral shell

3. one of the basic patterns of the human fingerprint, formed by several complete circular ridges one inside another Compare arch 1 loop 1

4. anything shaped like a coil

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whorl Scientific  

/ hwôrl,wôrl,hwûrl,wûrl /

1. An arrangement of three or more appendages radiating in a circular or spiral arrangement from a point on a plant, as leaves around the node of a stem. The sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels of angiosperms form four separate whorls within a complete flower.

2. A single turn of a spiral shell of a mollusk.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• whorled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of whorl

1425–75; late Middle English whorle, whorvil, wharwyl, Old English hwyrfel, equivalent to hweorfa whorl of a spindle + -el noun suffix

Explanation

Whorl describes something that looks like loops — a strand of curly hair that boings back up when you pull in then let it go, a corkscrew, even the track of a roller coaster that spins you in every direction. Use whorl to describe a thing that swirls or curls — the loops of icing on a birthday cake, the spiral curves of a mountain road, or a lock of curly hair. Whorl is also a good word to describe a flower whose petals form layer after layer of circles. Don't confuse the noun whorl with its homophone whirl, a verb that means "to spin in a circle."

Example Sentences

Thought to be made from a cattle femur, this decorated Anglo-Saxon spindle whorl, used to provide weight while spinning yarn, was unearthed from farmland near Bishopstone, Buckinghamshire.

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2026

A bird looks like an abstract whorl until you catch it at a particular angle; a man barely emerges from his stone, the cross on his neck just visible.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 3, 2025

And Hathaway, whose best performances often embrace stylized extremes, brilliantly emphasizes the mannerisms that conceal Rebecca’s deeper manipulations: the flirty way she cocks her head at Eileen or exhales a whorl of cigarette smoke.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2023

Several independent groups have now reported the oddly sluggish orbits of stars along the Milky Way’s outer rim, the peripheral edge of our galaxy’s luminous whorl.

From Scientific American • Oct. 11, 2023

Samuel Teece gutted the car out in a great whorl of dust.

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury