Helix Definition

hēlĭks
helices, helixes
noun
helices, helixes
Any spiral, as one lying in a single plane or, esp., one moving around a right circular cone or cylinder at a constant angle, as a screw or bolt thread does.
Webster's New World
A spiral form or structure.
American Heritage Medicine
The folded rim of cartilage around the outer ear.
Webster's New World
An ornamental spiral, as a volute on a Corinthian or Ionic capital.
Webster's New World
Any of a genus (Helix) of spiral-shelled land gastropods, including the common, edible European snail (H. pomatia)
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
pronoun

A taxonomic genus within the superfamily Helicoidea — certain land snails.

Wiktionary
verb
To move or position (something) into the shape of a helix.
American Heritage
To have the shape of a helix.
American Heritage Medicine
To move along a helical course; spiral.
American Heritage Medicine

Other Word Forms of Helix

Noun

Singular:
helix
Plural:
helices, helixes

Origin of Helix

  • From Latin helix, from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (heliks, “something twisted or spiral”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Latin from Greek wel-2 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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