whorl
whorl
(wɜːl
) noun
1 botany a radial arrangement of three or more petals, stamens, leaves, etc, around a stem
2 zoology a single turn in a spiral shell
3 one of the basic patterns of the human fingerprint, formed by several complete circular ridges one inside another. Compare
arch1 (sense 4b),
loop1 (sense 10a)
4 anything shaped like a coil
[C15: probably variant of wherville whirl, influenced by Dutch worvel]
> whorled
adjective
