tornado
The origin and history of tornado.
Etymology
Traced back to 1550s nautical English "ternado," itself from Spanish tronada ("thunderstorm"), from tronar ("to thunder"), ultimately from Latin tonare. The letters got swapped around (a process called metathesis) under the influence of the similar Spanish word tornar, "to turn."
Class of 1550
tornado first entered the language around 1550. Other words from the same year:
See the full Class of 1550 →