tornado pic-tuf, tufân-e picandé Fr.: tornade A mass of rotating air with high wind speeds at its center. It is produced in a very severe thunderstorm and appears as a funnel cloud extending from the base of a Cumulonimbus to the ground. Tornado, metathesis from Sp tronada "thunderstorm," from tronar "to thunder," from L. tonare "to thunder," → thunder. Pic-tuf, from pic present stem of picidan
"to twist, entwine, coil" (Mid.Pers. pecidan "to twist, entwine") +
tuf short for tufân, → storm. |