spiral

See also: spirál

English

a spiral

an Archi­medean spiral

Etymology

From Middle French spirale, from Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spīra, from Ancient Greek σπεῖρα (speîra, “wreath, coil, twist”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈspaɪɹəl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈspɑɪɹəl/
• Rhymes: -aɪɹəl

Noun

spiral (plural spirals)

1. (geometry) A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
2. (informal) A helix.
3. A self-sustaining process with a lot of momentum involved, so it is difficult to accelerate or stop it at once.
   • 2015, Jane Ward, Not Gay, New York University Press, →ISBN, page xi:

     My beloved friends and family who sustained and grounded me as I fell into the rabbit hole of this project or down the spiral of new parenthood.

4. (rail transport) A section of track that forms a circle and crosses over itself, used for gaining height in mountainous territory.

Related terms

• aspirin
• spirea

Translations

geometry

• Albanian: spirale (sq) f
• Arabic: لَوْلَب m (lawlab), بُرْغِيّ m (burḡiyy), حَلَزُون m (ḥalazūn)
• Armenian: պարույր (hy) (paruyr)
• Asturian: espiral f
• Azerbaijani: spiral
• Basque: kiribil (eu)
• Belarusian: спіра́ль f (spirálʹ)
• Bulgarian: спира́ла (bg) f (spirála)
• Catalan: espiral (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 螺線 / 螺线 (zh) (luóxiàn)

• Czech: spirála (cs) f
• Danish: spiral c
• Dutch: spiraal (nl) c
• Esperanto: spiralo
• Estonian: spiraal
• Finnish: spiraali (fi), kierukka (fi)
• French: spirale (fr) f
• Friulian: spirâl f
• Galician: espiral (gl) f
• Georgian: სპირალი (sṗirali)
• German: Spirale (de) f
• Greek: έλικα (el) f (élika), σπείρα (el) f (speíra), σπείρωμα (el) n (speíroma)

  Ancient Greek: ἕλιξ f (hélix)

• Hindi: सर्पिल (hi) (sarpil)
• Ido: spiralo (io)
• Indonesian: pilin (id)
• Italian: spirale (it)
• Japanese: 渦巻 (ja) (うずまき, uzumaki), 渦巻線 (うずまきせん, uzumakisen), スパイラル (ja) (supairaru)
• Kazakh: шиыршық (şiyrşyq), спираль (spiral)
• Korean: 나선형 (ko) (naseonhyeong), 라선형 (raseonhyeong) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: спираль (spiral)
• Latin: helica f
• Latvian: spirāle f
• Lithuanian: spiralė f
• Macedonian: спирала f (spirala)
• Māori: makaurangi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spiral m

  Nynorsk: spiral m

• Persian: مارپیچ (fa) (mârpič)
• Polish: spirala (pl) f
• Portuguese: espiral (pt) f
• Russian: спира́ль (ru) f (spirálʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спирала f

  Latin: spirala (sh) f

• Sindhi: گھُنڊيدار (ghũḍedār)
• Slovak: špirála f
• Slovene: spirala f
• Spanish: espiral (es) f
• Swedish: spiral (sv) c
• Tagalog: balukay
• Tajik: илтиво (iltivo), морпеч (morpeč)
• Tamil: சுருளி (ta) (curuḷi)
• Turkish: spiral (tr)
• Turkmen: spiral
• Ukrainian: спіра́ль f (spirálʹ)
• Uzbek: spiral (uz)
• Vietnamese: xoắn ốc

helix

• Basque: helize
• Bulgarian: спирала (bg) f (spirala)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 螺旋 (zh) (luóxuán)

• Finnish: kierre (fi), kierukka (fi)
• French: hélice (fr) f
• German: Helix (de) f
• Greek: έλικα (el) f (élika)
• Italian: bovolo (it) m
• Japanese: 螺旋 (ja) (らせん, rasen)
• Korean: 나선 (ko) (naseon), 라선 (raseon) (North Korea)
• Polish: helisa f, spirala (pl) f, ślimacznica (pl) f
• Russian: спира́ль (ru) f (spirálʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спирала f

  Latin: spirala (sh) f

• Spanish: hélice (es) f

self-sustaining process

• Bulgarian: спирала (bg) f (spirala)
• Finnish: kierre (fi)
• Italian: spirale (it) f
• Japanese: スパイラル (ja) (supairaru)
• Polish: spirala (pl) f

Adjective

spiral (not comparable)

1. Helical, like a spiral.
   • 1877, H. F. Blandford, Indian Meteorologist's Vade-mecum, page 140:

     The formation of tornados and water-spouts is very probably identical with that of dust-storms and "devils," viz., a sudden disturbance of the vertical equilibrium of the atmosphere, where by an upward rush of air is generated, which rapidly becomes spiral.

Translations

helical

• Belarusian: спіра́льны (spirálʹny)
• Bulgarian: спирален (bg) (spiralen)
• Greek: ελικοειδής (el) m or f (elikoeidís), ελικοειδές (el) n (elikoeidés), σπειροειδής (el) m or f (speiroeidís), σπειροειδές (el) n (speiroeidés), ελικωτός (el) m (elikotós), ελικωτή (el) f (elikotí), ελικωτό (el) n (elikotó), σπιράλ (el) m or m pl or f or f pl or n or n pl (spirál)
• Latin: tortilis
• Māori: tōrino
• Polish: spiralny (pl)
• Russian: спира́льный (ru) (spirálʹnyj)
• Ukrainian: спіра́льний (spirálʹnyj)

Verb

spiral (third-person singular simple present spirals, present participle (US) spiraling or (UK) spiralling, simple past and past participle (US) spiraled or (UK) spiralled)

1. (intransitive) To move along the path of a spiral or helix.

   Synonym: billow

   Synonyms: gyrate, spire

   The falling leaves spiralled down from the tree.

2. (transitive) To cause something to spiral.

   You need to learn how to spiral a ball.

3. (figuratively, intransitive) To increase continually.

   Her debts were spiralling out of control.

   • 2025 May 2, Endeavour, “Against Slopulism”, in Counter-Currents‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 June 2025:

     Excessive contrarianism against the liberal establishment has also resulted in slopulism spiralling off into the most moronic of conspiracy theories.

4. (intransitive) To decline mentally.

   She spiralled into a deep depression.

Translations

to increase continually

• French: spiraler (fr)
• Italian: aumentare vertiginosamente
• Ukrainian: більшати (uk) (bilʹšaty), поступово більшати (postupovo bilʹšaty)

Derived terms

from all parts of speech

• annulospiral
• antispiral
• Archimedean spiral
• arithmetic spiral
• barred spiral galaxy
• bispiral
• counterspiral
• death spiral
• defensive spiral
• downward spiral
• Ekman spiral
• equiangular spiral
• Fibonacci spiral
• flocculent spiral galaxy
• genetic spiral
• golden spiral
• graveyard spiral
• herb spiral
• inflationary spiral
• inspiral
• Knochenhauer spiral
• Langmuir spiral
• logarithmic spiral
• Magellanic spiral
• minispiral
• multispiral
• nonspiral
• paucispiral
• planispiral
• purity spiral
• quadrispiral
• red spiral galaxy
• Riess spiral
• semispiral
• spiral arm
• spiral-bound
• spiralbound
• spiral cleavage
• spiral dance
• spiral dive
• spiral DRAGN
• spiral fries
• spiral galaxy
• spiral ganglion
• spiral ginger
• spiralglass
• Spiralia
• spiralian
• spiraliform
• spiralise
• spiralism
• spiralist
• spirality
• spiralization
• spiralize
• spirallike
• spirally
• spiral nebula
• spiral of Archimedes
• spiral out
• spiral pass
• spiral pump
• spiral spring
• spiral staircase
• spiral valve
• spiralwise
• spiral worm
• spiral wrack
• Steiner's spiral nematode
• streptospiral
• subspiral
• superluminous spiral galaxy
• super spiral
• trispiral
• trochospiral
• Ulam spiral
• unispiral
• unspiral
• upward spiral
• virtuous spiral

Further reading

• Category:spirals on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Aprils, Plairs, prials

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From French spiral.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: spi‧ral

Noun

spiral

1. spiral

Declension

Declension of spiral

	singular	plural
nominative	spiral	spirallar
genitive	spiralnıñ	spirallarnıñ
dative	spiralğa	spirallarğa
accusative	spiralnı	spirallarnı
locative	spiralda	spirallarda
ablative	spiraldan	spirallardan

References

• “spiral”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Danish

Noun

spiral c (singular definite spiralen, plural indefinite spiraler)

1. spiral
2. coil (contraceptive device)

Declension

Declension of spiral

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	spiral	spiralen	spiraler	spiralerne
genitive	spirals	spiralens	spiralers	spiralernes

Further reading

• “spiral” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “spiral” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin spīrālis. By surface analysis, spire +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spi.ʁal/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Adjective

spiral (feminine spirale, masculine plural spiraux, feminine plural spirales)

1. spiral

Noun

spiral m (plural spiraux)

1. spiral

Further reading

• “spiral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch spiraal (“spiral”), from French spirale, from Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira, from Ancient Greek σπεῖρα (speîra, “wreath, coil, twist”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈspiral/ [ˈspi.ral]
• Rhymes: -iral
• Syllabification: spi‧ral

Noun

spiral (plural spiral-spiral)

1. (geometry) spiral; a kind of curve

   Synonym: pilin

2. (figurative) spiral; a self-sustaining process with a lot of momentum involved, so it is difficult to accelerate or stop it at once
3. (colloquial) intrauterine device, coil; a contraceptive device consisting of a spiral or similar shape

   Synonym: alat kontrasepsi dalam rahim

Adjective

spiral (comparative lebih spiral, superlative paling spiral)

1. spiral, helical

   Synonyms: pilin, berpilin

Derived terms

• berspiral

• spiral Archimedes
• spiral deflasi
• spiral Ekman
• spiral keheningan

Further reading

• “spiral”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈspiral/

Noun

spiral

1. hip

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• Eino Koponen, Klaas Ruppel, Kirsti Aapala, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[2], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira.

Noun

spiral m (definite singular spiralen, indefinite plural spiraler, definite plural spiralene)

1. a spiral, coil
2. a coil (contraceptive device)

Derived terms

• spiralfjær
• spiraltrapp

References

• “spiral” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira.

Noun

spiral m (definite singular spiralen, indefinite plural spiralar, definite plural spiralane)

1. a spiral, coil
2. a coil (contraceptive device)

Derived terms

• spiraltrapp

References

• “spiral” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French spiral.

Adjective

spiral m or n (feminine singular spirală, masculine plural spirali, feminine/neuter plural spirale)

1. spiral

Declension

Declension of spiral

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	spiral		spirală	spirali	spirale
	definite	spiralul		spirala	spiralii	spiralele
genitive- dative	indefinite	spiral		spirale	spirali	spirale
	definite	spiralului		spiralei	spiralilor	spiralelor

Further reading

• “spiral”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɪˈrɑːl/

Noun

spiral c

1. a spiral
2. an intrauterine device, a coil (contraceptive device)

Declension

Declension of spiral

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	spiral	spirals
	definite	spiralen	spiralens
plural	indefinite	spiraler	spiralers
	definite	spiralerna	spiralernas

Derived terms

• myggspiral (“mosquito repellent spiral”)
• spiraltrappa (“spiral staircase”)

See also

• dagen efter-piller (“morning-after pill”)
• kondom (“condom”)
• p-
• p-piller (“oral contraceptive pill”)
• preventivmedel (“contraceptive”)

References

• “spiral”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “spiral”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “spiral”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Anagrams

• pilars, slipar