helmet

English

A motorcycle helmet

Alternative forms

• helmette (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, a diminutive of helme (Modern French heaume), equivalent to helm +‎ -et. The Old French is itself of Germanic origin. Used in English since the 15th century, it has gradually displaced Old English helm as the general word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlmɪt/

Noun

helmet (plural helmets)

1. A protective head covering, usually part of armour.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

2. That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.
   1. The upper part of a chemist's retort.
   2. The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.
   3. A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.
   4. (heraldry) The feature above a shield on a coat of arms.
   5. The glans penis.

Synonyms

• brain bucket, hard hat

Derived terms

• combat helmet
• bicycle helmet
• construction helmet
• crash helmet

Related terms

• helm

Translations

protective head covering

• Afrikaans: helm
• Arabic: خُوذَة‎ f (ḵūḏa)
• Armenian: սաղավարտ (hy) (sałavart)
• Asturian: cascu m, yelmu m
• Azerbaijani: dəbilqə, kaska
• Basque: kasko
• Belarusian: шало́м m (šalóm), ка́ска f (káska)
• Bulgarian: шлем (bg) m (šlem), ка́ска f (káska)
• Burmese: ဦးခေါင်းဆောင် (u:hkaung:hcaung)
• Catalan: casc (ca) m, elm (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鋼盔 (zh), 钢盔 (zh) (gāngkuī), 頭盔 (zh), 头盔 (zh) (tóukuī)

• Czech: helma (cs) f, helmice f, přilba f, přilbice f
• Danish: hjelm c
• Dutch: helm (nl) m
• Esperanto: kasko
• Estonian: kiiver
• Extremaduran: cascu
• Finnish: kypärä (fi)
• French: casque (fr) m
• Galician: casco m, helmo m
• Georgian: ჩაფხუტი (čapxuṭi), მუზარადი (muzaradi)
• German: Helm (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 m (hilms)
• Greek: κράνος (el) n (krános)

  Ancient: κράνος n (krános), κόρυς f (kórus)

• Hebrew: קַסְדָּה‎ (he) f (kasda)
• Hungarian: sisak (hu), bukósisak (hu)
• Icelandic: hjálmur (is) m
• Indonesian: helm (id)
• Irish: ceannbheart m, f, clogad (ga) m, cafarr m
• Italian: casco (it) m, elmetto (it) m
• Japanese: ヘルメット (ja) (herumetto), 兜 (ja) (かぶと, kabuto)
• Kalmyk: дуулх (duulx)
• Kazakh: дулыға (dwlığa)
• Korean: 헬멧 (ko) (helmet)
• Lao: ໝວກກັນກະທົບ (lo) (mūak kan ka thop)

• Latin: cassis f (metal), galea f (leather)
• Latvian: ķivere f
• Lithuanian: šalmas (lt)
• Macedonian: шлем m (šlem), ка́цига f (káciga) (only for motor vehicles)
• Malay: topi keledar
• Maltese: elmu m
• Maori: pōtae mārō
• Norwegian: hjelm (no) m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: шлѣмъ m (šlěmŭ)

• Old East Slavic: шеломъ m (šelomŭ)
• Old English: helm m
• Old Norse: hjalmr m
• Old Polish: szłom m
• Persian: (bicycle helmet) کلاه ایمنی ورزشی‎‎, خود‎ (fa) (xud)‎, کلاه ایمنی‎ (fa)‎, کلاه کاسکت‎
• Polish: hełm (pl) m, kask (pl) m
• Portuguese: capacete (pt) m, elmo (pt) m
• Romanian: cască (ro) f, coif (ro) m
• Russian: шлем (ru) m (šlem), ка́ска (ru) m (káska), шело́м (ru) m (šelóm) (obsolete)
• Scottish Gaelic: clogaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шлем m, кацига f

  Roman: šlem (sh) m, kaciga (sh) f

• Slovak: helma (sk) f, prilba f
• Slovene: čelada (sl) f
• Spanish: casco (es) m, yelmo (es) m
• Swahili: helmeti, kofia ya chuma
• Swedish: hjälm (sv) c
• Telugu: శిరస్త్రాణము (te) (śirastrāṇamu)
• Thai: หมวกนิรภัย (mùak ní-rá-pai), หมวกเชื่อม (mùak chêuam)
• Tibetan: རྨོག (rmog)
• Turkish: kask (tr), miğfer (tr)
• Ukrainian: шоло́м m (šolóm), ка́ска (uk) f (káska)
• Vietnamese: mũ bảo hiểm, nón bảo hiểm
• Welsh: helm f, helmed f, helmedau f pl
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Verb

helmet (third-person singular simple present helmets, present participle helmeting, simple past and past participle helmeted)

1. (transitive) To cover with, or as if with, a helmet.

Anagrams

• Lethem

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Finnish

Noun

helmet

1. Nominative plural form of helmi.
2. necklace made of pearls or beads

Declension

Inflection of helmet (Kotus type 7/ovi, no gradation)
nominative		—	helmet
genitive		—	helmien
partitive		—	helmiä
illative		—	helmiin
		singular	plural
nominative		—	helmet
accusative	nom.	—	helmet
	gen.	—
genitive		—	helmien
partitive		—	helmiä
inessive		—	helmissä
elative		—	helmistä
illative		—	helmiin
adessive		—	helmillä
ablative		—	helmiltä
allative		—	helmille
essive		—	helminä
translative		—	helmiksi
instructive		—	helmin
abessive		—	helmittä
comitative		—	helmineen

Synonyms

• (necklace): helminauha

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• helmette, helmett, helmete

Etymology

From Old French helmet; equivalent to helm +‎ -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlmɛt/, /ˈhɛlmit/

Noun

helmet

1. A helmet; an armoured piece of headgear.

Descendants

• English: helmet
• Scots: hoomet

References

• “helmet (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-18.