sea-storm of severest intensity, 1550s, a partially deformed adoption of Spanish huracan (Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, "Historia General y Natural de las Indias," 1547-9), furacan (in the works of Pedro Mártir De Anghiera, chaplain to the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and historian of Spanish explorations), from an Arawakan (West Indies) word. In Portuguese, it became furacão. For confusion of initial -f- and -h- in Spanish, see hacienda. The word is first in English in Richard Eden's "Decades of the New World":
These tempestes of the ayer (which the Grecians caule Tiphones ...) they caule furacanes. OED records 39 different spellings, mostly from the late 16c., including forcane, herrycano, harrycain, hurlecane. The modern form became frequent from 1650 and was established after 1688. Shakespeare uses hurricano ("King Lear," "Troilus and Cressida"), but in reference to waterspouts.
英语单词 hurricane 来自美洲玛雅神话中的创世神之一的雷暴与旋风之神 Hurakan （胡拉坎）。在玛雅神话中，当世界还处于混沌未开之时， Hurakan 朝水面用力吹了一口气，吹开了水，露出了干燥的大地。后来， Hurakan 又施展魔法，引来暴雨和洪水毁灭了人类。
生活在加勒比海的土著人用 Hurakan 称呼当地的强热带风暴，认为是这种风暴是 Hurakan 在施展魔法。西班牙殖民者来到加勒比海地区后，将 Hurakan 一词带入西班牙语，用来表示飓风。
该词进入英语后，拼写变成了 hurricane 。