tyfoon

tyfoon (plural tyfoons)

1. Obsolete form of typhoon.

• taifoen

Probably ultimately of Sinitic origin, Mandarin 大风 (dàfēng, “big wind”), Cantonese 大風／大风 (daai⁶ fung¹, “big wind”), via Arabic طُوفَان (ṭūfān), Hindi तूफ़ान (tūfān), and Persian توفان (tufân). Ancient Greek Τυφῶν (Tuphôn, “Typhon, father of the winds”) is unrelated but has secondarily contaminated the word: given the location of typhoons as a Pacific Ocean phenomenon, it is more likely it began east and moved west.

• IPA^(key): /tiˈfoːn/

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• Hyphenation: ty‧foon

tyfoon m (plural tyfoons, diminutive tyfoontje n)

1. typhoon
2. train horn