means a massive, rotating tropical storm system with violent winds (typically 74 mph or more) and torrential rain, born over warm ocean waters.

from From Spanish 'huracán,' which sailors borrowed in the 1500s from the Caribbean Taíno people — their word 'hurakán' named a god or spirit of storms. The Spanish carried the word home along with their wonder at the Atlantic's fury, and English took it from there, where its spelling wandered for centuries (huricane, herricano, hurycano) before settling down. So the name itself is a survivor of the very weather it describes, crossing oceans on the lips of frightened crews.