Etymologically
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helix

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈhiːlɪks/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin helix (“a spiral; a volute in architecture”),[2][3][4][5] which is from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “anything of spiral form”), genitive ἕλικος (hélikos).[2][3][4] The Greek word was used of an armlet, a curl of hair, the tendril of a vine and a serpent's coil.[3] It is related to ἑλίσσω (helíssō, “to turn about, wind, roll”),[6][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn, roll”);[9][6][10] Etymonline cites Watkins for a suffixed form Proto-Indo-European *wel-ik-.[3] Johnson gave French hélice beside the Greek,[11] and Weekley compares the same French word, which also means a ship's screw.[12] The snail genus took the name through New Latin.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spiral ornament in architecture, a volute, especially one of the eight small volutes under the abacus of a Corinthian capital: 1563, in J. Shute's First Groundes of Architecture.[2][3][14][13] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1555–65.[7]

Semantic evolution

From the architectural ornament the word widened to anything of spiral or coiled form, flat like a watch-spring or advancing round an axis like a corkscrew, recorded from 1643 in Sir T. Browne's Religio Medici.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a spiral line; a circumvolution", quoting Wilkins on the screw.[11] Anatomists used it from 1684 for the curved rim of the outer ear,[2] and zoologists from 1820 for a genus of snails with spiral shells.[2][13] In geometry a helix is a curve lying on a cylinder or cone at a constant angle.[10][15][13] The double helix, two helices wound round a common axis, was proposed as the structure of DNA by Crick and Watson in 1954.[2][13][10] The classical plural is helices.[3][5]

Timeline

  • 1563 – a spiral ornament or volute in architecture.[2][3]
  • 1643 – anything of spiral or coiled form.[2]
  • 1684 – the rim of the outer ear.[2]
  • 1820 – a genus of snails with spiral shells.[2]
  • 1954 – double helix, the structure of the DNA molecule.[2][13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A spiral form or structure, such as a coil or a corkscrew: The staircase rose in a tight helix.[10][15][13]
  2. (mathematics) A three-dimensional curve lying on a cylinder or cone and cutting its elements at a constant angle.[10][15][13]
  3. (anatomy) The folded rim of skin and cartilage around the outer ear.[10][15][13][2]
  4. (architecture) A volute on a Corinthian or Ionic capital.[10][15][13][2]
  5. (zoology) A genus of land snails with coiled shells, including the edible snail.[13][2]
  6. A coil made by winding wire around a tube.[13]

Word family

  • antihelix
  • helical
  • superhelix
  • alpha helix
  • double helix

Usage notes

The plural is helices or helixes.[10][15][13]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins