1. A tropical cyclone or extremely powerful, large, and destructive storm that takes place; especially, in the areas of the Philippines, the China Sea, or Indian oceans.
2. Etymology and word history: from Greek tuphon, "whirlwind", and Arabic tufan, "deluge".

The history of typhoon has traveled from Greece to Arabia to India, and also appeared independently in China, before assuming its current form in English.

The Greek word tuphon has been used both as the name of the father of the winds and a common noun meaning "whirlwind, typhoon".

The modern form of typhoon was influenced by a borrowing from the Cantonese variety of Chinese, namely the word taaifung, and then it was respelled to make it look more like Greek.