spiral

spiral

See also: spirál

English

Archimedean spiral

Etymology

From Middle French spirale, from Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira, from Ancient Greek σπείρα (speíra, “wreath, coil, twist”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspaɪɹəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

Derived terms

terms derived from spiral (noun)

• death spiral
• defensive spiral
• downward spiral
• graveyard spiral
• herb spiral
• spiral cleavage
• spiral dive
• Spiralia
• spiral staircase
• upward spiral
• spiral valve

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

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 Maori: tōrino Polish: spiralny (pl)

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.

   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.

Translations

to increase continually

French: spiraler (fr) Italian: aumentare vertiginosamente

Further reading

• spirals on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Aprils, Plairs, prials

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Danish

Noun

spiral c (singular definite spiralen, plural indefinite spiraler)

1. spiral

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

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spi.ʁal/

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.

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Northern Sami

Etymology

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

Noun

spiral

1. hip

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

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

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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.

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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.

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Romanian

Etymology

From French spiral.

Adjective

spiral m or n (feminine singular spirală, masculine plural spirali, feminine and 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)

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Swedish

Noun

spiral c

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

Declension

Declension of spiral
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	spiral	spiralen	spiraler	spiralerna
Genitive	spirals	spiralens	spiralers	spiralernas

Anagrams

• pilars, slipar