How Did Typhoon Get Its Name? What was the Name Based on?

Question

By name, it’s like typhoon A gets called Tramadol, typhoon B gets called Kitty, etc.

In: 0

Answer 1

There are three possible origins – one from Persian/Hindi, second from Greek and a third from Chinese.

The Hindi/Persian term for a storm is Tūfān, which eventually became Typhoon in English.

The Greek origin is attributed to Typhon, a serpent giant, and in several myths was the wind god. The Greek word Tuphon meant whirlwind.

It is possible these two origins are linked.

An unlinked third origin is Chinese, where a strong wind is called fong-tai. This was later reversed as tai-fong as per Mandarin word order, and was picked by foreign sailors as taifoon.