helicopter

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Kit Kat Klub says: more like "gigantic, watch out, the helicopter is out and ready to destroy" kind of stories.

View all »Definitions (8)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An aircraft that derives its lift from blades that rotate about an approximately vertical central axis.
  2. intransitive and transitive verb To go or transport by helicopter.
  3. Word History
    The two Greek words that are the origin of helicopter may be particularly hard for English speakers to spot. Helicopter was borrowed from the French word hélicoptère, a word constructed from Greek heliko- and pteron, "wing.” Heliko-, the combining form of helix, "spiral,” has given us helico-, which can be joined with other words and word forms to create new words. The consonant cluster pt in pteron begins many Greek words but relatively few English words. English speakers unfamiliar with Greek are thus not likely to recognize the word's elements as helico-pter; many analyze the word into the elements heli-copter, as is shown by the clipped form copter.

View all » Examples

  • Bright grabbed a few items on his way out the door and had another agent drive him to the Coast Guard yard, where a helicopter was already waiting. —  Clear and Present Danger
  • Kit Kat Klub says: more like "gigantic, watch out, the helicopter is out and ready to destroy" kind of stories. —  damnhellracism
  • They say when they went back to try and get more equipment from that helicopter, the helicopter was attacked by aircraft, jet aircraft in the sky, and the Taliban say they were unable to get back to that helicopter and retrieve more equipment because the jet aircraft were firing on the helicopter on the ground. —  CNN Transcript Nov 3, 2001
  • THE MAN WAS CALLED Calvin Franz and the helicopter was a Bell 222. —  Bad Luck and Trouble
  • They said a helicopter is on its way. —  Crusader Gold
 

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Helicopter has been looked up 233 times, favorited 0 times, listed 9 times, commented on 0 times, and has a Scrabble score of 17.

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View all »Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French hélicoptère : Greek helix, helik-, spiral; see helix + Greek pteron, wing; see -pter.

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Pronunciations

/ (hĕlˈĭ-kŏpˌtər)/
ahd pronounces "helicopter"
by American Heritage Dictionary

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Occurrences of the word "helicopter" per million words:

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