The word dreidel is a yiddish word, originating from ‘drei,’ meaning ‘turn’.
The Hebrew word for dreidel, sevivon (סְבִיבוֹן), follows the same logic and comes from the Hebrew root, סבב, meaning “to turn”. And another fun fact: the word was created by the adolescent son of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the founder of Modern Hebrew.
In the same way there are some variations on the word, there are also variations of the letters on the sevivon. The Hebrew letters on a North American dreidel – Nun (נ), Gimel (ג), Hey (ה), Shin (שׁ) – are an acronym for the phrase “Nes Gadol Haya Sham” (נֵס גָּדוֹל הָיָה שָׁם, “a great miracle happened there“). But in Israel, where the Chanukkah miracle happened, the sevivon replaces Shin with a Pey (in place for the word “Po”) – “Nes Gadol Haya Po” (נֵס גָּדוֹל הָיָה פֹּה, “great miracle happened here“).