Word.ws English Dictionary

helicopteron

helicopteron noun: a flying machine having an aerial screw propeller.

Noun

helicopteron (plural helicopterons or helicoptera)

  1. (historical) A flying machine having an aerial screw propeller.
    • But though many of these projects called forth considerable inventive ability, yet, until quite recently, the helicopteron (from ἑλικός, any thing spiral or twisted, and πτερόν, a wing—that is, a machine furnished with an aërial screw-propeller) was the only type of machine which had succeeded in...1876 February, “Flying-Machines and Pénaud’s Artificial Bird”, in Alfred M. Mayer, transl., The Popular Science Monthly, volume VIII, translated from the Journal de Physique, New York, N.Y.: D....
    • Prof. Alfred M. Mayer, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, in the Journal of the Franklin Institute for March, gives a paper on flying-machines and [Alphonse] Pénaud’s artificial bird, for the invention of which the Academy of Sciences awarded awarded M. Pénaud a prize in June last. In this...1876 April 8, “Science Gossip”, in The Athenæum: Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama, number 2528, London: […] E. J. Francis & Co., […] John Francis, page 506, column 2

Examples of helicopteron in a sentence

  • In this paper he describes some “helicopterons,” or aërial screw-propellers, which have been successful in raising themselves in flight.1876 April 8, “Science Gossip”, in The Athenæum: Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama, number 2528, London...
  • It was the principle of the helicopteron which rises because it strikes the air obliquely as if it were moving along an inclined plane.1913, The Boy’s Own Annual, page 313, column 2:
  • This was effected by a helicopteron or elevating propeller which sucked the air downwards by means of a vertical tunnel, right through the supporting gas body.1935, Wettenhovi-Aspa, The Diamondking of Sahara, Helsinki: K. F. Puromies Limited, page 74:

Forms of helicopteron

pluralhelicopterons
pluralhelicoptera

Origin of helicopteron

From Ancient Greek ἕλῐξ (hélĭx, “spiral”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”). Doublet of helicopter.

Questions about helicopteron

What does helicopteron mean?
Helicopteron means a flying machine having an aerial screw propeller.
How do you use helicopteron in a sentence?
In this paper he describes some “helicopterons,” or aërial screw-propellers, which have been successful in raising themselves in flight.
What part of speech is helicopteron?
Helicopteron is a noun.
What is the plural of helicopteron?
The plural of helicopteron is helicopterons.

Words near helicopteron in the dictionary

  1. helicoptera
  2. helicoptered
  3. helicopterful
  4. helicoptering
  5. helicopterlike
  6. helicopteron
  7. helicopterons
  8. helicopters
  9. helicoptery
  10. helicopting
  11. helicoptor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: helicopteron (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “helicopteron.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/helicopteron. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.