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# whorl

«whorl» in Mova's school dictionary: **a pattern of curved lines that go round and round, like a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a whorl, whorls)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A whorl is a pattern of curved lines that go round and round, like a spiral. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#m1)

2) In fingerprints, a whorl is a circle or spiral pattern in the middle of the print. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#m2)

3) In plants, a whorl is a ring of leaves or petals growing around a stem at the same point. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#m3)

4) A whorl is one turn of a shell's spiral. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

Used in science (fingerprints in forensic investigation, plant structure, shells) and art. Fingerprint types: arches, loops and whorls.

### examples

- My thumbprint has a whorl in the middle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#x1)
- Fingerprints have loops, arches and whorls. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#x2)
- The snail shell has five whorls. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#x3)
- The leaves grow in a whorl around the stem. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#x4)
- The wood showed whorls where the branches had been. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#x5)
- She painted a whorl of blue and white in the sky. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/#x6)

### note

Pronounced «whurl» or «wawl», rhymes with «world» without the d in many accents. Do not confuse with «whirl» (to spin fast) or «world».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «whorl» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whorl/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.