vortex

English

WOTD – 24 August 2006

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvɔrtɛks/

Noun

vortex (plural vortexes or vortices)

1. A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.
   • 2013 March 1, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, 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.
3. (figuratively) Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.
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.
5. (zoology) Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.

Quotations

2004: the consumer vortex that is East Hampton — The New Yorker, 30 August 2004, p.38

Related terms

• vortical
• vorticity

Translations

whirlpool

• Catalan: remolí m, vòrtex
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 渦旋, 涡旋 (zh) (wōxuán)

• Czech: vír (cs) m
• Dutch: wervelwind (nl)
• Esperanto: vortico
• Finnish: pyörre
• German: Wirbel (de) m
• Greek: δίνη (el) f (díni)
• Icelandic: hringiða (is) f
• Japanese: 渦 (ja) (うず, uzu)

• Kurdish: bagerr (ku) f, babelîsk (ku) f
• Polish: wir (pl) m
• Portuguese: turbilhão m, redemoinho (pt) m, rodamoinho m, remoinho m, vórtice (pt) m
• Romanian: vâltoare (ro)
• Russian: водоворот (ru) m (vodovorót), вихрь (ru) m (vixrʹ), воронка (ru) f (vorónka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вир m, вртлог

  Roman: vir m, vrtlog m

• Spanish: remolino (es) m

anything involving violent or chaotic activity around some centre

• Catalan: remolí m, vòrtex
• Dutch: draaikolk (nl)
• Finnish: pyörre
• Icelandic: hringiða (is) f

• Polish: wir (pl) m
• Portuguese: turbilhão m, redemoinho (pt) m
• Spanish: vórtice

anything which draws surrounding things

• Catalan: remolí m, vòrtex
• Dutch: maalstroom
• Finnish: nielu (fi), kita (fi), pyörremyrsky (fi)
• German: Strudel (de) m

• Icelandic: hringiða (is) f
• Polish: wir (pl) m
• Portuguese: funil (pt) m
• Turkish: girdap (tr)

See also

• eddy
• ley line
• maelstrom

References

• vortex in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• vortex in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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Latin

Etymology

Archaic form of Latin vertex, from vertō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈwor.teks/

Noun

vortex m (genitive vorticis); third declension

1. whirlpool, eddy, vortex

Inflection

Third declension.

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	vortex	vorticēs
genitive	vorticis	vorticum
dative	vorticī	vorticibus
accusative	vorticem	vorticēs
ablative	vortice	vorticibus
vocative	vortex	vorticēs

Descendants

• Portuguese: vórtice, vórtex
• Spanish: vórtice

References

• vortex in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879