typhoon [L16th] The fierce tropical storm brings together two sources, Arabic tūfān, which may be from Greek tuphōn ‘whirlwind’, and Chinese dialect tai fung ‘big wind’. The Portuguese picked up the first in the Indian oceans, while merchants and sailors in the China seas would have encountered the Chinese expression. A wide variety of spellings appeared before the word finally settled down into typhoon in the 19th century.