Eddy

How to spell eddy

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce eddy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does eddy mean?

1. nounA circular movement of water, air, or other fluid running counter to the main current.
2. verbTo move in a circular or swirling way, against or apart from the main current.

Eddy in a sentence

• noun

  A small eddy spun the fallen leaf in slow circles near the bank.

• verb

  The river would eddy around the stone pillars of the old bridge.

• noun

  The kayaker rested in a calm eddy behind the rock before paddling on.

• verb

  Smoke from the campfire began to eddy in the gusting wind.

Where does eddy come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The word eddy describes water that turns back on itself, and that idea sits right inside its likely origin. Most scholars trace it to the Old Norse noun 'ida', meaning a whirlpool or a swirling current, which fits the heavy Scandinavian influence on the rivers and coasts of northern Britain. It may also draw on the old Germanic prefix 'ed-', meaning 'back' or 'again', so that an eddy is literally water that runs back against the main flow. The spelling settled with a double d during the 1400s and 1500s, when the short vowel in front encouraged the doubled consonant in English writing. The origin is not certain, which is why the double-d ending feels arbitrary and is worth fixing in memory: think of the 'ed' of 'back' plus the small turning '-dy'.

How the word is built

• ed- (back, again)
• -dy (forming a noun of repeated turning)