A whirligig is a toy that spins. The word covers several spinning things: a child's spinning top, a pinwheel on a stick that turns in the wind, and the garden ornaments made of thin blades or little wooden figures that whirl when the wind catches them. In older English it also meant a merry-go-round at a fair. Two other uses are worth knowing. A 'whirligig beetle' is a real insect — the small black beetle you see spinning in fast circles on the top of a pond. And figuratively, 'the whirligig of' something means the fast, dizzying, ever-turning way life or events go round: Shakespeare's line 'the whirligig of time brings in his revenges' gave English the phrase 'the whirligig of time', and people still write about 'the whirligig of fashion' or 'the whirligig of politics' — meaning things keep coming round again. The word itself sounds old and playful; a modern child would say 'spinning top' or 'pinwheel', so when a writer chooses 'whirligig' it is usually for the charm of the sound. It is countable: one whirligig, several whirligigs.

陀螺、風車（會旋轉的玩具）；也指旋轉木馬、豉蟲；引申指「不停打轉的（世事、流行）」