tailwind

English

Etymology

tail +‎ wind

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteɪlwɪnd/

Noun

tailwind (plural tailwinds)

1. (nautical, physics) A wind that blows in the same direction as the course taken by an aircraft, sailing ship, bird, etc.
2. (figurative, by extension) A force that accelerates progress.

Antonyms

• headwind

Translations

a wind that blows in the same direction as the course of an aircraft or ship

• Danish: medvind (da) c
• Faroese: undanvindur m
• Finnish: myötätuuli (fi)
• French: vent en poupe (fr) m
• German: Rückenwind (de) m
• Hungarian: hátszél (hu)
• Icelandic: meðvindur m, meðbyr m
• Ingrian: perintuuli
• Italian: vento di coda
• Japanese: 追い風 (おいかぜ, oikaze)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: medvind (no)

  Nynorsk: medvind

• Russian: попу́тный ве́тер m (popútnyj véter)
• Spanish: viento en popa m
• Swedish: medvind (sv) c
• Turkish: pupa rüzgârı

Verb

tailwind (third-person singular simple present tailwinds, present participle tailwinding, simple past and past participle tailwinded)

1. Of a wind, to blow on a windmill or wind turbine in such a way that wind pressure is exerted on the wrong side of the sail or turbine assembly.