gyration

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a single complete turn (axial or orbital)
  2. noun the act of rotating in a circle or spiral

Etymology

From gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes). Gyre is from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), and directly from its etymon Latin gȳrāre, the present active infinitive of gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”) (from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

In classic literature

Synonyms

rotation, revolution

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