tornado
English
Etymology
From earlier English ternado, attested since the 1550s as a nautical term for a windy thunderstorm.[1] From Spanish tronada (“thunderstorm”), from tronar (“to thunder”), from Latin tonō (“to thunder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). The o and r were reversed in English (metathesis) under influence of Spanish tornar (“to twist, to turn”), from Latin tornō (“to turn”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: tô(r)-nā'dō, IPA(key): /tɔː(ɹ)ˈneɪ.dəʊ/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
tornado (plural tornadoes or tornados)

- (meteorology) A violent windstorm characterized by a mobile, twisting, funnel-shaped cloud.
- Synonym: twister
- 2013 March 1, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, 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.
- A tornado is a rotating column of air.
Synonyms
- twister (informal)
Hypernyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
- stovepipe tornado
- Tornado Alley
- tornado shelter
- tornado watch (“conditions are favorable for producing a tornado”)
- tornado warning (“a tornado has been sighted”)
Descendants
Translations
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See also
References
- “tornado”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Danish
Inflection
| common gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | tornado | tornadoen | tornadoer | tornadoerne |
| genitive | tornados | tornadoens | tornadoers | tornadoernes |
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Esperanto

Etymology
From French tornade, Italian tornado, German Tornado, Yiddish טאָרנאַדאָ (tornado), Russian торна́до (tornádo), Polish tornado, all derived from English tornado, from Spanish tronada (“thunderstorm”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [torˈnado]
- Audio:
(file) - Rhymes: -ado
- Hyphenation: tor‧na‧do
Noun
tornado (accusative singular tornadon, plural tornadoj, accusative plural tornadojn)
- (meteorology) tornado
- Mia kuzino loĝis en Kansaso kaj spertis multajn danĝerajn tornadojn.
- My cousin lived in Kansas and experienced many dangerous tornadoes.
Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtornɑdo/, [ˈt̪o̞rnɑ̝do̞]
- Rhymes: -ornɑdo
- Syllabification(key): tor‧na‧do
Declension
| Inflection of tornado (Kotus type 2/palvelu, no gradation) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | tornado | tornadot | ||
| genitive | tornadon | tornadojen tornadoiden tornadoitten | ||
| partitive | tornadoa | tornadoja tornadoita | ||
| illative | tornadoon | tornadoihin | ||
| singular | plural | |||
| nominative | tornado | tornadot | ||
| accusative | nom. | tornado | tornadot | |
| gen. | tornadon | |||
| genitive | tornadon | tornadojen tornadoiden tornadoitten | ||
| partitive | tornadoa | tornadoja tornadoita | ||
| inessive | tornadossa | tornadoissa | ||
| elative | tornadosta | tornadoista | ||
| illative | tornadoon | tornadoihin | ||
| adessive | tornadolla | tornadoilla | ||
| ablative | tornadolta | tornadoilta | ||
| allative | tornadolle | tornadoille | ||
| essive | tornadona | tornadoina | ||
| translative | tornadoksi | tornadoiksi | ||
| instructive | — | tornadoin | ||
| abessive | tornadotta | tornadoitta | ||
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | |||
| Possessive forms of tornado (type palvelu) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
Further reading
- "tornado" in Kielitoimiston sanakirja (Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish).
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /torˈna.do/
- Rhymes: -ado
- Hyphenation: tor‧nà‧do
Further reading
- tornado in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Norwegian Bokmål
Noun
tornado m (definite singular tornadoen, indefinite plural tornadoer, definite plural tornadoene)
- (meteorology) a tornado
References
- “tornado” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Noun
tornado m (definite singular tornadoen, indefinite plural tornadoar, definite plural tornadoane)
- (meteorology) a tornado
References
- “tornado” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tɔrˈna.dɔ/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -adɔ
- Syllabification: tor‧na‧do
Declension
or
Indeclinable.
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /toʁˈna.du/ [toɦˈna.du]
- (São Paulo) IPA(key): /toɾˈna.du/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /toʁˈna.du/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /toɻˈna.do/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /tuɾˈna.du/ [tuɾˈna.ðu]
- Hyphenation: tor‧na‧do
Serbo-Croatian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tǒrnaːdo/
- Hyphenation: tor‧na‧do
Declension
References
- “tornado” in Hrvatski jezični portal
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from English tornado, and this in turn from Spanish tronada (see English etymology for details).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /toɾˈnado/ [t̪oɾˈna.ð̞o]
- Rhymes: -ado
- Syllabification: tor‧na‧do
Related terms
- anticiclón m
- ciclón m
- huracán m
- remolino m
- tifón m
- torbellino m
Participle
tornado (feminine tornada, masculine plural tornados, feminine plural tornadas)
- past participle of tornar
Further reading
- “tornado”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014