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PlainSpell

twirl

/twɝl/noun, verb

twirl is spelled T-W-I-R-L: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, twirl means “A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of twirl is twirls.

How many letters and syllables are in twirl?

Letters5: T-W-I-R-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 42,145th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is twirl?

Twirl appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce twirl?

  • UK /twɜːl/
  • US /twɝl/
  • /twøːl/

Twirl has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-twirl.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with twirl?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as twirl from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹl/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of twirl

  • twirls plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • twirling participle, present
  • twirled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does twirl mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette.

  2. 2

    Any rotating movement; a spin.

    The conductor gave his baton a twirl, and the orchestra began to play.

  3. 3

    A little twist of some substance; a swirl.

  4. 4

    slangA prison guard.

verb

  1. 1

    To perform a twirl.

  2. 2

    To rotate rapidly.

  3. 3

    To twist round.

  4. 4

    To pitch.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Twirl in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpirouette (Movement where one spins round elegantly; a…), pirouetter (to perform a twirl), faire tournoyer (to rotate rapidly)
GermanPirouette, Drehschwung (Movement where one spins round elegantly; a…), einen Wirbel vollführen (to perform a twirl), herumwirbeln, schnell herumdrehen (to rotate rapidly)
Spanishpirueta (Movement where one spins round elegantly; a…), girar (to rotate rapidly)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does twirl come from?

Of Scandinavian origin, akin to Norwegian Nynorsk tvirla, Old High German dweran (German zwirlen, quirlen), Dutch dwarrelen and Icelandic þyrill; all from Proto-Germanic *þwirilaz (“stirring-stick, whisk”), *þweraną (“to stir”). Or, an alteration of tirl (“to twist”), with influence from whirl.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after twirl