helmet

Syllables: hel·met/ˈhɛlmɪt/

helmet noun: a hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

Image: Ŵishmaster, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

helmet (plural helmets)

A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.
- 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.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter II, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- Most speedboarders wear helmets, knee and elbow pads, and occasionally all-in-one aerodynamic suits, to protect themselves.2009 February 25, Noam Friedlander, “Dangerous sport of speedboarding banned from Malibu streets”, in The Daily Telegraph
Synonyms:

helm, brain bucket
The upper part of a chemist's retort.

Synonyms:

helm
The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.
A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.
The glans penis.
- And it makes me sick, the thought of your lipstick on his helmet.1998, “Quarterback”, in Adam Cohen, performed by Adam Cohen
Synonyms:

bell-end, cockhead, cue ball, dickhead, dome, head, knob, knobhead, little head, mushroom tip
(broadly, derogatory) A contemptible or stupid person.
- Jarvo’s a stinky old helmet.2021 September 3, MJowen174, Twitter, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2023
Synonyms:

bell-end, cockhead, cue ball, dickhead, dome, head, knob, knobhead, little head, mushroom tip

Verb

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

(transitive) To cover with, or as if with, a helmet.
- There was no nonsense about these women—no hysteria, no top-note emotion. They were not out for smashing windows or helmetting policemen, or blowing up things sky-high.1913 August 28, “English Non-Militant Suffragists in Parade”, in The Union Signal, volume XXXIX, number 35, Evanston, Ill., page 12
- COMRADE, I had done well with you to swear / Allegiance to the colors of romance / In the great days when our sweet mistress, France, / Girded her loins and helmetted her hair.1917 August, Walter Adolphe Roberts, “To a Friend Fallen for France (Alan Seeger)”, in The Forum, volume LVIII, New York, N.Y.: The Forum Publishing Company […], page 210

helmet meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

helmet in Hindi

protective head covering: हेलमेट helmeṭ, ख़ोद xod

helmet in Tamil

protective head covering: தலைக்கவசம் talaikkavacam

helmet in Marathi

protective head covering: हेल्मेट helmeṭ, शिरस्त्राण śirastrāṇ

helmet in Urdu

protective head covering: ہیلْمیٹ helmeṭ, خود xod

More languagesFewer languages

helmet in Bengali: শিরস্ত্রাণ śirostran
helmet in Telugu: శిరస్త్రాణము śirastrāṇamu
helmet in Malayalam: പടത്തൊപ്പി, ലോഹനിർമ്മിതത്തൊപ്പി
helmet in Kannada: ಶಿರಸ್ತ್ರಾಣ, ಶಿರಕವಚ, ತಲೆಕಾಪು, ತಲೆಗಾಪು
helmet in Punjabi: ਹੈਲਮਟ hailmaṭ
helmet in Gujarati: હેલ્મેટ, શિરસ્ત્રાણ
helmet in Odia: ହେଲମେଟ, ହେଲମେଟ୍, ଶିରସ୍ତ୍ରାଣ
helmet in Nepali: हेलमेट, शिरस्त्राण
helmet in Tagalog: helmet, almete
helmet in Arabic: خُوذَة ḵūḏa, بَيْضَة bayḍa
helmet in Malay: topi keledar
helmet in Indonesian: helm
helmet in Thai: หมวกนิรภัย mùuak-ní-rá-pai, หมวกเชื่อม mùuak-chʉ̂ʉam
helmet in Vietnamese: mũ bảo hiểm, nón bảo hiểm
helmet in Myanmar: ဦးခေါင်းဆောင် u:hkaung:hcaung

Examples of helmet in a sentence

They sell feed, riding helmets, and everything else for horses.
The promotion of cycle helmets causes the dangerisation of cycling.
The bident and helmet of invisibility are two objects associated with the Greek god Hades and his Roman counterpart Pluto.

All 40 example sentences with helmet

Synonyms of helmet

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of helmet

Forms of helmet

Noun
plural	helmets
alternative form (obsolete)	helmette
Verb
third-person singular present	helmets
present participle	helmeting
present participle	helmetting
past participle	helmeted
past	helmeted
past participle	helmetted
past	helmetted

Plural of helmet: helmets

Origin of helmet

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 (whence Old English helm). Used in English since the 15th century, it has largely displaced helm as the general word.

Phrases with helmet

Words that rhyme with helmet

pelmet

Questions about helmet

What does helmet mean?: Helmet means a hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.
What is helmet in Hindi?: Helmet in Hindi is हेलमेट (helmeṭ), ख़ोद (xod). See Helmet meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is helmet?: Helmet can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce helmet?: Helmet is pronounced /ˈhɛlmɪt/.
What is the plural of helmet?: The plural of helmet is helmets.

Words near helmet in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: helmet (page history and authors); শিরস্ত্রাণ (Bengali) (page history and authors); helmet (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); helmet (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); helmet (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); helmet (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); helmet (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-helmet.wav.

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