vortex

See also: vórtex and vòrtex

English

WOTD – 24 August 2006

Etymology

From Latin vortex. Doublet of vertex.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɔɹtɛks/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɹtɛks

Noun

vortex (plural vortices or vortexes)

1. A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.
   • 2013 March, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 1 May 2013, page 114:

     An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

2. (figuratively) Anything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.
   • 2004 August 30, Rebecca Mead, “Flip-Flop Emergency”, in The New Yorker‎^[2], page 38:

     It’s hard to imagine that there is any major American clothing brand that does not have a store in the consumer vortex that is East Hampton; […]

   • 2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[3]:

     Montreal in the summer is a vortex of decadent food, 24-ounce cocktails and carefree people. We reveled in it, danced, swam in fountains.

3. (figuratively) Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.
   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 17:

     In early youth, the living drama acted around me, drew my heart and soul into its vortex.

4. (historical) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or planet; part of a Cartesian theory accounting for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it.
   • 1705, George Cheyne, “Of the Physical Laws, and the Uniform Appearances of Nature. Law III. Corollary V.”, in Philosophical Principles of Natural Religion: […], London: […] George Strahan […], →OCLC, § XXII, page 32:

     Novv ſhou'd it happen that any of theſe Sun-like Bodies in the Centers of the ſeveral Vortices ſhou'd be ſo incruſtated and vveaken'd, as to be carried about in the Vortex of the true Sun, if it vvere of leſs Solidity, or leſs capable of Motion than the Globules, tovvards the extremity of the Solar Vortex, then it vvou'd deſcend tovvard the Sun, till it met vvith Globules of the ſame Solidity, and capable of the ſame degree of Motion vvith it, and being fixt there, it vvou'd for ever be carried about by the Motion of the Vortex, vvithout either approaching to, or receding from the Sun, and ſo become a Planet.

5. (zoology) Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.

Derived terms

• admin vortex
• antivortex
• intervortex
• mesovortex
• nanovortex
• nonvortex
• polar vortex
• pollen vortex
• quantized vortex
• Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube
• uveovortex
• vile vortex
• von Kármán vortex street
• vortexation
• vortex atom
• vortexer
• vortex filament
• vortex fringe
• vortex generator
• vortexlike
• vortex line
• vortex mixer
• vortex ring
• vortex shedding
• vortex theory
• vortex tube
• wake vortex

Related terms

• vortical
• vorticity

Translations

whirlpool

• Aromanian: viro m, vãltoari f
• Bulgarian: водовъртеж (bg) (vodovǎrtež)
• Catalan: remolí (ca) m, vòrtex
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 渦旋 / 涡旋 (zh) (wōxuán)

• Czech: vír (cs) m
• Dutch: wervelwind (nl), wervel (nl) m, draaikolk (nl) f
• Esperanto: vortico, kirlo
• Finnish: pyörre (fi)
• French: tourbillon (fr)
• Galician: vórtice m, remuíño (gl) m
• Georgian: მორევი (morevi)
• German: Wirbel (de) m
• Greek: δίνη (el) f (díni)
• Icelandic: hringiða (is) f
• Ido: vortico (io)
• Japanese: 渦 (ja) (うず, uzu)
• Korean: 소용돌이 (ko) (soyongdori)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bagerr (ku) f, babelîsk (ku) f

• Latin: vortex
• Polish: wir (pl) m
• Portuguese: turbilhão (pt) m, redemoinho (pt) m, rodamoinho m, remoinho (pt) m, vórtice (pt) m
• Romanian: vâltoare (ro), vârtej (ro) n, bulboană (ro) f
• Russian: водоворо́т (ru) m (vodovorót), вихрь (ru) m (vixrʹ), воро́нка (ru) f (vorónka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вир m, вртлог

  Roman: vir (sh) m, vrtlog (sh) m

• Spanish: remolino (es) m
• Turkish: girdap (tr), burgaç (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́хор m (výxor), коло́ворот m (kolóvorot)
• Welsh: llynclyn m, trobwll m
• West Frisian: draaikolk c

anything involving violent or chaotic activity around some centre

• Bulgarian: вихър (bg) m (vihǎr)
• Catalan: remolí (ca) m, vòrtex
• Czech: víření n
• Dutch: draaikolk (nl), wervelwind (nl) m
• Finnish: pyörre (fi)
• Georgian: გრიგალი (grigali), მორევი (morevi)
• Icelandic: hringiða (is) f
• Polish: wir (pl) m
• Portuguese: turbilhão (pt) m, redemoinho (pt) m
• Spanish: vórtice (es)
• Ukrainian: урага́н m (urahán), буреві́й (uk) m (burevíj)
• Welsh: chwyrliad m
• West Frisian: draaikolk c, kolk c

anything which draws surrounding things

• Catalan: remolí (ca) m, vòrtex
• Dutch: maalstroom (nl)
• Finnish: nielu (fi), kita (fi), pyörremyrsky (fi)
• Georgian: მორევი (morevi)
• German: Strudel (de) m
• Icelandic: hringiða (is) f
• Polish: wir (pl) m
• Portuguese: funil (pt) m
• Turkish: girdap (tr)
• Ukrainian: всмо́ктувач m (vsmóktuvač), усмо́ктувач m (usmóktuvač)
• Welsh: chwyrliad m, trobwll m

See also

• eddy
• ley line
• maelstrom

Verb

vortex (third-person singular simple present vortexes, present participle vortexing, simple past and past participle vortexed)

1. (chemistry) To mix using a vortex mixer

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “vortex”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “vortex”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vortex.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔʁ.tɛks/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

vortex m (uncountable)

1. vortex

Further reading

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

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɔr.tɛks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvɔr.t̪eks]

Noun

vortex m (genitive vorticis); third declension

1. Archaic form of vertex.

Inflection

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vortex	vorticēs
genitive	vorticis	vorticum
dative	vorticī	vorticibus
accusative	vorticem	vorticēs
ablative	vortice	vorticibus
vocative	vortex	vorticēs

Descendants

Descendants

• → English: vortex
• → French: vortex
• → Italian: vortice
• → Portuguese: vórtice, vórtex
• → Sicilian: vòrtici
• → Spanish: vórtice

References

• “vortex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "vortex", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• vortex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French vortex or Latin vortex.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvor.teks/

Noun

vortex n (plural vortexuri)

1. vortex

Declension

Declension of vortex

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	vortex	vortexul		vortexuri	vortexurile
genitive-dative	vortex	vortexului		vortexuri	vortexurilor
vocative	vortexule			vortexurilor

Further reading

• “vortex”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025