Etymology

cyclone

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Today it means: Any weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure; a low pressure system. Full definition →

Ancient Greek κυκλόω (kuklóō)der.? ← Proto-Hellenic *kúklos ← Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kʷékʷlos
  3. Proto-Hellenic*kʷókʷlos
  4. Proto-Hellenic*kúklos
  5. Ancient Greekκύκλος (kúklos)der.?
  6. Ancient Greekκύκλος (kúklos)
  7. Ancient Greekκυκλόω (kuklóō)der.?
  8. English todaycyclone

Coined by English scientist and merchant captain Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω (kuklóō, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle κυκλῶν (kuklôn). See cycle and wheel.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.