helicopter

See also: helicòpter

English

A helicopter (aircraft).

a samara or helicopter

Etymology

Borrowed from French hélicoptère, from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “spiral”) +‎ πτερόν (pterón, “wing”). Doublet of helicopteron. By surface analysis, helico- +‎ -pter. The dragonfly sense is from a dragonfly's ability to hover and fly in any direction, like the flying machine.

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈheliˌkɔptə(ɹ)/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛl.iˌkɒp.tə(ɹ)/, /ˈhɛl.ɪˌkɒp.tə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlɪˌkɑptɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

helicopter (plural helicopters)

1. (aviation) An aircraft that is borne along by one or more sets of long rotating blades which allow it to hover, move in any direction including reverse, or land; and typically having a smaller set of blades on its tail to stabilize the aircraft.

   Hypernym: aircraft

   We flew over the city in a helicopter.

2. A powered troweling machine with spinning blades used to spread concrete.
3. (botany) The winged fruit of certain trees, such as ash, elm, and maple.
4. (zoology, slang) A dragonfly; so named due to its resemblance to a helicopter (sense 1).
5. A whirling trick performed with devil sticks.
6. A breakdance move in which the dancer spins on the floor while extending the legs to resemble the blades of a helicopter.

Synonyms

• (aircraft): chopper (informal), copter (informal), eggbeater (slang), heli (informal), helo (military, slang), rotary-wing aircraft (technical), whirlybird (slang)
• (trowelling device): power trowel, trowel machine
• (winged fruit): samara, whirlybird

Hyponyms

• attack helicopter
• black helicopter
• synchropter (sometimes considered coordinate)

 

Derived terms

• Chinese helicopter
• copter
• -copter (and derivatives therefrom)
• free helicopter ride
• heli
• heli- (and derivatives therefrom)
• helicopter bucket
• helicopter carrier
• helicopter drop
• helicopter ear
• helicopter mom
• helicopter money
• helicopter parent
• helicopter parenting
• helicopter seed
• roflcopter

 

Descendants

• → Amharic: ሄሊኮፕተር (helikoptär)
• → Cebuano: helikopter
• → Malay: helikopter
• → Tagalog: helikopter

Translations

aircraft

• Afrikaans: helikopter
• Albanian: helikopter (sq) m
• Arabic: طَائِرَةٌ مِرْوَحِيَّة (ar) f (ṭāʔiratun mirwaḥiyya), طَائِرَة عَامُودِيَّة f (ṭāʔira ʕāmūdiyya), هِلِيكُوبْتَر m (helikobtar), حَوَّامَة f (ḥawwāma), طَوَّافَة f (ṭawwāfa)
• Armenian: ուղղաթիռ (hy) (uġġatʻiṙ)
• Aromanian: ilicupter n, elicupter
• Asturian: helicópteru (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: dikuçar, helikopter (az), vertolyot (az)
• Basque: helikoptero
• Belarusian: верталёт (be) m (vjertaljót), гелікаптэ́р m (hjelikaptér), геліко́птэр m (hjelikópter)
• Bengali: হেলিকোপটার (helikōpoṭar)
• Breton: biñsaskell (br) f
• Bulgarian: хелико́птер (bg) m (helikópter), вертоле́т (bg) m (vertolét)
• Burmese: ဟယ်လီကော့ပတာ (my) (hailikau.pa.ta), ရဟတ်ယာဉ် (my) (ra.hatyany)
• Catalan: helicòpter (ca) m
• Chechen: беркема (berkema)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 直升機／直昇機／直升机 (zik⁶ sing¹ gei¹)

  Hakka: 直升機／直昇機／直升机 (chhṳ̍t-sṳ̂n-kî)

  Hokkien: 直升機／直昇機／直升机 (ti̍t-seng-ki)

  Mandarin: 直升機／直昇機／直升机 (zhíshēngjī)

  Wu: 直升機／直昇機／直升机 (⁸zeq-sen-ci)

• Cornish: askel dro f
• Czech: vrtulník (cs) m, helikoptéra (cs) f
• Danish: helikopter (da) c
• Dutch: helikopter (nl) m, wentelwiek (nl) f
• Elfdalian: elikopter m
• Esperanto: helikoptero
• Estonian: helikopter (et)
• Faroese: tyrla (fo) f
• Finnish: helikopteri (fi)
• French: hélicoptère (fr) m
• Galician: helicóptero (gl) m
• Georgian: ვერტმფრენი (verṭmpreni), შვეულმფრენი (šveulmpreni)
• German: Hubschrauber (de) m, Helikopter (de) m
• Greek: ελικόπτερο (el) n (elikóptero)
• Greenlandic: helikopteri, qulimiguulik
• Guaraní: vevehajere
• Hawaiian: helekopa
• Hebrew: מַסּוֹק (he) m (masók)
• Hindi: हेलिकॉप्टर m (helikŏpṭar)
• Hungarian: helikopter (hu)
• Iban: bilun engkabang
• Icelandic: þyrla (is) f, þyrilvængja f (obsolete), kofti m (obsolete)
• Ido: helikoptero (io)
• Indonesian: helikopter (id)
• Interlingua: helicoptero
• Irish: héileacaptar, ingearán m
• Italian: elicottero (it) m

  Sicilian: elicòttiru m

• Japanese: ヘリコプター (ja) (herikoputā), ヘリ (ja) (heri)
• Jarawa: čokogere, ŋeŋeŋe
• Karakalpak: vertolyot, tikushar
• Kazakh: тікұшақ (tıkūşaq)
• Khmer: អេលីកុបទែរ (ʼeeliikoptɛɛ), អេលីកូ (ʼeeliikou), ឧទ្ធម្ភាគចក្រ (ʼutthŏəmphiəkĕəʼcak)
• Korean: 헬리콥터 (ko) (hellikopteo), 헬기(機) (ko) (helgi), 직승비행기(直昇飛行機) (jikseungbihaenggi) (North Korea), 직승기(直昇機) (ko) (jikseunggi) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: helîkopter (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: тик учак (tik ucak)
• Lao: ເອລີກົບເທີ (ʼē lī kop thœ̄), ເຮລິຄອບແຕ (hē li khǭp tǣ), ເຮລີກົບແຕ (lo) (hē lī kop tǣ)
• Latin: helicopterum (la) n
• Latvian: helikopters f
• Lithuanian: sraigtasparnis m, (rare) helikopteris m
• Livonian: helikoptõr
• Luxembourgish: Helikopter m
• Macedonian: вр́толет m (vŕtolet), хелико́птер (mk) m (helikópter)
• Malay: helikopter (ms)
• Maltese: ħelikopter m
• Maori: waka hurihuri, waka kōporo, waka topatopa (mi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нисдэг тэрэг (nisdeg tereg), эгч нисгэл (egč nisgel) (China)

  Mongolian: ᠨᠢᠰᠳᠡᠭ
  ᠲᠡᠷᠭᠡ (nisdeg terge), ᠡᠭᠴᠡ
  ᠨᠢᠰᠬᠡᠯ (eɣče niskel)

• Navajo: bikááʼ náʼoobałí
• Newar: बुइँचाखः (buĩcākha:)
• Northern Sami: helekopter, helikopter
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: helikopter (no) n

  Nynorsk: helikopter n

• Occitan: elicoptèr (oc) m
• Pali: vyoma-yānavisesa m
• Pashto: چورلکه (ps) f (čurláka)
• Persian: بالگرد (fa) (bâlgard), هلیکوپتر (fa) (helikôpter)
• Polish: śmigłowiec (pl) m inan, helikopter (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: helicóptero (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਹੈਲੀਕਾਪਟਰ m (hailīkāpṭar)
• Quechua: pillwinkumpa
• Romanian: elicopter (ro) n
• Romansch: helicopter m
• Russian: вертолёт (ru) m (vertoljót), геликопте́р (ru) m (gelikoptɛ́r) (dated), гелико́птер (ru) m (gelikóptɛr) (dated)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хелико̀птер m

  Roman: helikòpter (sh) m

• Slovak: vrtuľník m
• Slovene: helikopter (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: helikopter m

• Sotho: helikopotare (st)
• Spanish: helicóptero (es) m, autogiro (es) m
• Swahili: helikopta (sw)
• Swedish: helikopter (sv) c
• Tagalog: helikopter, elikoptero
• Tajik: чархбол (čarxbol)
• Tamil: உலங்கு வானூர்தி (ta) (ulaṅku vāṉūrti)
• Tatar: боралак (boralaq)
• Thai: เฮลิคอปเตอร์ (th) (hee-lí-kɔ́p-dtə̂ə)
• Tibetan: ཐད་འཕུར་གནམ་གྲུ (thad 'phur gnam gru), ཧེ་ལེ་ཀོབ་ཊར (he le kob ṭar)
• Tigrinya: ሄሊኮፕተር (helikoptär)
• Tok Pisin: helikopta
• Turkish: helikopter (tr)
• Turkmen: wertolýot
• Ukrainian: вертолі́т (uk) m (vertolít), гелікопте́р m (helikoptér)
• Urdu: بالگرد (bālgard), ہیلی کاپٹر m (helī kāpṭar)
• Uyghur: تىك ئۇچار ئايروپىلان (tik uchar ayropilan), ۋېرتاليوت (wërtalyot)
• Uzbek: tikuchar (uz), vertolyot (uz)
• Vietnamese: máy bay lên thẳng (𣛠𠖤𨖲𣦎), máy bay trực thăng (vi) (𣛠𠖤直昇), trực thăng (vi) (直昇)
• Volapük: tovaskrubian
• Welsh: hofrennydd (cy) m
• Yiddish: העליקאָפּטער m (helikopter)

machine for spreading concrete — see trowel machine

Verb

helicopter (third-person singular simple present helicopters, present participle helicoptering, simple past and past participle helicoptered)

1. (transitive) To transport by helicopter.
   • 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 40:

     Car drivers were helicoptered to safety from nearby roads. There were photographs of people canoeing down streets.

2. (intransitive) To travel by helicopter.
3. To rotate like a helicopter blade.

   helicoptering his jacket, helicoptering his arms

4. To overprotect one's children, as a helicopter parent does.

Translations

to transport by helicopter

• Finnish: kuljettaa helikopterilla
• French: héliporter (fr)
• Italian: elitrasportare

to travel by helicopter

• Finnish: matkustaa helikopterilla

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: helicopterear

Romanian

Noun

helicopter n (plural helicoptere)

1. Alternative form of elicopter

Declension

Declension of helicopter

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) helicopter	helicopterul	(niște) helicoptere	helicopterele
genitive/dative	(unui) helicopter	helicopterului	(unor) helicoptere	helicopterelor
vocative	helicopterule		helicopterelor