Moving in a twisting, circular motion, like water going down a drain or wind spinning around in patterns.
From Middle English 'swirlen,' possibly related to Old Norse origins. The word developed from onomatopoeia mimicking the sound and motion of spinning. By the 1600s it referred specifically to rotating or circular movements.
Swirling patterns appear everywhere in nature—from hurricanes to DNA helixes to galaxies—and we use the same word because our brains recognize this fundamental pattern of movement across totally different scales.
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