gyre

American  

[jahy^uhr] / dʒaɪər /

noun

1. a ring or circle.

2. a circular course or motion.

3. Oceanography. a ringlike system of ocean currents rotating clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

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gyre British  

/ dʒaɪə /

noun

1. a circular or spiral movement or path

2. a ring, circle, or spiral

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verb

1. (intr) to whirl

gyre Scientific  

/ jīr /

1. A spiral oceanic surface current driven primarily by the global wind system and constrained by the continents surrounding the three ocean basins (Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian). Each ocean basin has a large gyre in the subtropical region, centered around 30° north and south latitude. Smaller gyres occur at 50° north latitude in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The direction of a gyre's rotation is determined by the prevailing winds in the region, with the large subtropical gyres rotating clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

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Other Word Forms

• subgyre noun
• supergyre noun

Etymology

Origin of gyre

1560–70; < Latin gȳrus < Greek gŷros ring, circle

Explanation

Use the word gyre when you describe the spiral shape that petals make in the face of a flower. You can use the noun gyre in a variety of ways, but it always means a kind of circle, especially one that coils or spirals. You'll see a gyre when you look straight at certain blossoms — the rings of petals in a rose, for example, form a gyre. Some plants have gyres of leaves making concentric circles. In late Middle English, to gyre was to "spin something around in circles," from the Greek root word gyros, "circle or ring."

Example Sentences

The expedition will travel from Seattle to the Gulf of Alaska and then continue to the subtropical gyre, with a stop in Honolulu, Hawaii.

From Science Daily • Mar. 11, 2026

Even if the gyre of contemporary fandom demands mess, spite, flops and redemption arcs, Lipa glides over all of it, with morally sound politics and an immaculately tasteful book club to spare.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 5, 2025

They were carried to the South Pacific by the South Pacific gyre, a circular ocean current.

From National Geographic • Feb. 21, 2024

Thanks to a persistent circulating current known as a gyre, they’ve collected in a single spot in the middle of the north Pacific.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 28, 2023

WAS brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

From The Best Nonsense Verses by Bacon, Josephine Dodge Daskam