tornado

Where does the word "tornado" come from? It comes from Spanish tronada, and was adopted directly into English (1600s).

Tornado’s story begins in Spanish: tronada meant “a thunderstorm.” A thunderstorm, from tronar (to thunder), later applied to violent windstorms. It reached English by 1600s as tornado. Reshaped and settled as the word for a violently rotating windstorm. Today, tornado means a violently rotating column of air extending from a storm to the ground.

1. Stage 1 · Spanish · 1500s tronada "a thunderstorm", a thunderstorm, from tronar (to thunder), later applied to violent windstorms.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1600s tornado "a violently rotating column of air", reshaped and settled as the word for a violently rotating windstorm.