dust devil

English

A dust devil.

 dust devil on Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• dustdevil, dust-devil

Etymology

Compound of dust +‎ devil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʌst ˈdɛvəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

dust devil (plural dust devils)

1. A small atmospheric vortex appearing in clear, dry conditions, made visible by swirling dust picked up from the ground.

   Synonyms: sand pillar, (Australia) willy willy

   Coordinate terms: spout, landspout, tornado, whirlwind, whirl, thermal

   A dust devil may look harmless, but a large one can overturn a car.

Related terms

• devil
• fire devil
• steam devil

 

Translations

a swirling dust in the air

Catalan: remolí de sorra, dimoniet, follet (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 塵暴／尘暴 (zh) (chénbào) Danish: støvhvirvel c Dutch: stofhoos (nl) f, stofduivel (nl) m Finnish: pölypyörre (fi) French: tourbillon de poussière (fr) m Galician: remuíño (gl) m German: Kleintrombe f, Staubteufel m Greek: ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos), σκονοδιάβολος (el) m (skonodiávolos) Hungarian: porördög Japanese: 塵旋風 (じんせんぷう, jinsenpū), ダストデビル (dasuto debiru) Korean: 회오리바람 (ko) (hoe'oribaram) Latin: vertigo f, vortex m Macedonian: please add this translation if you can Navajo: náátsʼǫ́ʼoołdísii Norwegian: Bokmål: støvvirvel (no) m Plautdietsch: Wintkjriesel m Polish: trąba pyłowa f Portuguese: redemoinho (pt) m, pé-de-vento (pt) m Russian: пылево́й вихрь m (pylevój vixrʹ), пы́льный вихрь m (pýlʹnyj vixrʹ), песча́ный вихрь m (pesčányj vixrʹ) Spanish: torbellino de polvo m, remolino de polvo m, tolvanera (es) f Swahili: kimbunga (sw)

See also

• cyclone
• hurricane
• tornado