Swirling

How to spell swirling

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce swirling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does swirling mean?

1. adjectiveMoving or arranged in a twisting, whirling, circular motion.

Swirling in a sentence

• The swirling snow made the motorway almost impossible to see.

• She stirred the cocoa until a swirling pattern formed on the surface.

Where does swirling come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base verb 'swirl' first appears in late medieval Scottish and northern English texts, where it described a whirling, eddying motion of water; the related noun named an eddy or whirlpool. Its ultimate roots are uncertain, but it sits among a family of imitative or 'sound-suggesting' Germanic words alongside Dutch 'zwirrelen' and similar Scandinavian forms that evoke spinning movement. Over time 'swirl' spread from describing water into wider use for smoke, snow, crowds, and patterns. The form 'swirling' is simply the present participle, built by adding the regular suffix '-ing'; because the verb ends in a vowel-plus-'l' with stress on the single syllable, English keeps just one 'l' here rather than doubling it. That single 'l' is the main thing to watch when spelling it.

How the word is built

• swirl (to move in eddies or whirls)
• -ing (present participle/adjective suffix)