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typhoon

Sayty-FOON/taɪˈfun/UK/taɪˈfuːn/

Pluraltyphoons

2 meanings of typhoon

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A violent tropical cyclone with rotating winds of 64 knots (119 km/h) or more, especially in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It is the regional equivalent of an Atlantic hurricane or an Indian Ocean cyclone.

    Forecasters upgraded the tropical storm to a typhoon as it crossed the warm waters east of Taiwan.

    Had it formed in the Atlantic, the same typhoon would have been called a hurricane.

    Note

    This precise sense belongs to a family of names for one storm, and cyclone is the member to watch: narrowly it is the Indian Ocean and Australian name for the same storm, but tropical cyclone is also the umbrella term, so every typhoon is a cyclone while not every cyclone is a typhoon. In looser use, typhoon can name any severe tropical storm.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Typhoon, hurricane and cyclone are regional names for the same storm type. oceanservice.noaa.gov
    • Cyclone is the regional name used in the Indian Ocean and near Australia. gpm.nasa.gov
    • Tropical cyclone is an umbrella term that includes typhoons and weaker tropical systems. oceanservice.noaa.gov

Less common meaning

  1. 2
    verbrare
    To swirl or whirl violently, the way a hurricane does.

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Origin

First used in English in 1588 (spelled Touffon) for a giant storm in Asian seas, from Portuguese tufão, which sailors likely took from Arabic ṭūfān. The Arabic word's own origin is uncertain: it is sometimes traced to Chinese “big wind,” but it may be a native Arabic root about wind circling around, or come from Greek. Over time the English spelling was influenced by Greek tuphôn, “whirlwind,” the name also of Typhon, father of destructive storm winds.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts

  • The earliest recorded English form was Touffon in 1588. en.wikipedia.org
  • The account describes a storm during a voyage from Pegu towards Bengal, in the Bay of Bengal, rather than the Pacific. gutenberg.org
  • English borrowed the word from Portuguese tufão. en.wiktionary.org
  • Portuguese sailors probably acquired the word from Arabic ṭūfān. en.wiktionary.org
  • A Chinese expression meaning big wind has been proposed as the Arabic word's ultimate origin. en.wiktionary.org
  • Alternative proposed origins are a native Semitic root referring to circling wind or a Greek borrowing. en.wiktionary.org
  • Greek influenced the English spelling. en.wiktionary.org
  • Greek tuphôn means whirlwind and is associated with the name Typhon. en.wikipedia.org
  • Typhon was the father of destructive storm winds; Hesiod explicitly distinguishes these from Notus, Boreas and Zephyr. en.wikisource.org