noun · countable / uncountable · rare

gyration

gyr·a·tion

gyration · gyrations

The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centreThe act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation.

UK/dʒaɪ(ə)ˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/US/ˌd͡ʒaɪˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/

Meaning

4 senses

(also, countable, figuratively, uncountable)The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation.
the act of rotating in a circle or spiral
The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation.
(also, countable, figuratively, specifically, uncountable)A rotation around an axis which is not the centre of rotational symmetry; an eccentric or off-centre rotation.
(countable)One of the whorls of a spiral univalve shell.
(countable, uncountable)The arrangement of convolutions of gyri in the cerebral cortex of the brain.

Origin

From gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl

From gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes). Gyre is from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), and directly from its etymon Latin gȳrāre, the present active infinitive of gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”) (from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

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