a pattern made by a curved line that forms a rough circle, with smaller circles inside bigger ones 螺旋状图案；螺纹 the whorls on your fingertips 指纹的涡
- (specialist)
a ring of leaves, flowers, etc. around the stem of a plant 轮，轮生体（环生于植物茎部的叶、花等）
Word Originlate Middle English (denoting a small flywheel): apparently a variant of whirl, influenced by Old English wharve ‘whorl of a spindle’.