helical

Etymology

It is formed from English helix + -al,^[2][3][4] the base being the stem helic- of Latin helix (“spiral; a volute in architecture”).^[5][6][4] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “anything of spiral form”),^[5][3] a word used of an armlet, a curl of hair, the tendril of a vine or a serpent's coil.^[4] Klein relates it to the verb ἑλίσσω (helíssō, “to turn about, wind, roll”) and traces both to Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to bend, turn, twist, roll”);^[3][7] Etymonline, after Watkins, gives the stem as *wel-ik-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having the form of a helix; spiral: 1591, Merriam-Webster Unabridged's first known use.^[6] The OED's first quotation is from 1613, in M. Ridley's Short Treatise of Magneticall Bodies;^[5] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600,^[4] Dictionary.com to 1605–15^[8] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its geometric sense, "screw-shaped, spiral".^[5][2] Johnson (1755) listed it, labelled as an adverb, with the definition "spiral; with many circumvolutions", quoting Wilkins on the screw as a wedge continued by a helical revolution about a cylinder.^[9] In engineering it formed combinations such as helical gear and helical tube,^[5] and Merriam-Webster records a technical sense of gear teeth or a milling cutter set at the angle of a helix rather than straight and parallel to the axis.^[6] From 1913 helical alone was used as a noun for a helical gear,^[5][10] and Merriam-Webster also uses the noun for anything helical in form, such as a coil spring.^[6] The adverb helically is recorded from the mid 17th century.^[2]

Timeline

• 1591 – having the form of a helix; spiral.^[6] The OED's first quotation is from 1613.^[5]
• mid 17th century – the adverb helically.^[2]
• 1913 – noun, a helical gear.^[5][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the shape of a helix; spiral or screw-shaped: a helical spring.^{[11][6][5][1]}
2. Of gear teeth or a cutter: set at the angle of a helix rather than straight and parallel to the axis.^[6]

Noun

1. Something helical in form, such as a gear with helical teeth or a coil spring.^[6][5]

Word family

• helically

Related words

• helix
• volute

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins