helmet

English

A motorcycle helmet

Alternative forms

• helmette (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlmɪt/, /ˈhɛlmət/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlmɪt

Noun

helmet (plural helmets)

2. (clothing) A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

   Synonyms: (archaic or poetic) helm, (sometimes humorous) brain bucket

   Hyponym: hard hat

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter II, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2009 February 25, Noam Friedlander, “Dangerous sport of speedboarding banned from Malibu streets”, in The Daily Telegraph:

     Most speedboarders wear helmets, knee and elbow pads, and occasionally all-in-one aerodynamic suits, to protect themselves.

   1. (heraldry) Such a helm when placed above a shield on a coat of arms.

      Synonym: helm

3. That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.
   1. The upper part of a chemist's retort.

      Synonym: (obsolete) helm

   2. The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.
   3. A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.
   4. The glans penis.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:glans penis

      1. (by extension, derogatory) A contemptible or stupid person.
         • 2021 September 3, MJowen174, Twitter‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-01-14:

           Jarvo’s a stinky old helmet.

Derived terms

• balaclava helmet
• beer helmet
• bicycle helmet
• blue helmet
• blue-helmet
• close helmet
• coal scuttle helmet
• combat helmet
• construction helmet
• Corinthian helmet
• crash helmet, crash-helmet
• flying helmet
• guinit helmet
• helmet hair
• helmet shell
• helmet snail
• helmet streamer
• horned helmet
• kettle helmet
• pit helmet
• pith helmet
• policeman's helmet
• purple helmet
• safety helmet
• space helmet
• steel pot helmet
• washbasin helmet

 

Related terms

• helm

Descendants

Descendants of helmet

• → Korean: 헬멧 (helmet)
• → Palauan: hermet
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਹੈਲਮਟ (hailmaṭ)

  Shahmukhi script: ہیلمٹ (hailmaṭ)

• → Swahili: helmeti
• → Welsh: helmed

Translations

protective head covering

• Afrikaans: helm
• Albanian: kokore (sq) f, përkrenare (sq) f, tarogzë (sq) f
• Arabic: خُوذَة f (ḵūḏa), بَيْضَة (ar) f (bayḍa)

  Hijazi Arabic: خوذة f (ḵūḏa)

• Armenian: սաղավարտ (hy) (saġavart)
• Asturian: cascu (ast) m, yelmu m
• Azerbaijani: dəbilqə, kaska
• Basque: kasko
• Belarusian: шало́м m (šalóm), ка́ска f (káska)
• Bulgarian: шлем (bg) m (šlem), ка́ска f (káska)
• Burmese: ဦးခေါင်းဆောင် (u:hkaung:hcaung)
• Catalan: casc (ca) m, elm (ca) m
• Chagatai: دبولغه (dubulğa), توبولغا (tubulğa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鋼盔／钢盔 (zh) (gāngkuī), 頭盔／头盔 (zh) (tóukuī)

• Czech: helma (cs) f, helmice f, přilba f, přilbice f
• Danish: hjelm c
• Dutch: helm (nl) m
• Esperanto: kasko
• Estonian: kiiver
• Extremaduran: cascu
• Finnish: kypärä (fi)
• French: casque (fr) m
• Galician: casco (gl) m, elmo m, gocete m, borguiñota f, camal m, chola (gl) f
• Georgian: ჩაფხუტი (ka) (čapxuṭi), მუზარადი (ka) (muzaradi)
• German: Helm (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 m (hilms)
• Greek: κράνος (el) n (krános)

  Ancient: κράνος n (krános), κόρυς f (kórus)

• Hebrew: קַסְדָּה (he) f (kasda)
• Hindi: हेलमेट m (helmeṭ), ख़ोद m (xod)
• Hungarian: sisak (hu), bukósisak (hu)
• Icelandic: hjálmur (is) m
• Indonesian: helm (id)
• Ingrian: kypärä
• Irish: ceannbheart m or f, clogad (ga) m, cafarr m
• Italian: casco (it) m, elmetto (it) m
• Japanese: ヘルメット (ja) (herumetto), 兜 (ja) (かぶと, kabuto)
• Kalmyk: дуулх (duulx)
• Kazakh: дулығ (dulyğ)
• Korean: 투구 (ko) (tugu) (historical), 헬멧 (ko) (helmet) (modern)
• Kumyk: давулгъа (dawulğa), темир бёрк (temir börk)
• Kyrgyz: туулга (ky) (tuulga)
• Lao: ໝວກກັນກະທົບ (lo) (mūak kan ka thop)
• Latin: cassis f (metal), galea f (leather)
• Latvian: ķivere f
• Lithuanian: šalmas (lt)
• Macedonian: шлем m (šlem), кацига f (kaciga) (only for motor vehicles)
• Malay: topi keledar
• Maltese: elmu m
• Maori: pōtae mārō
• Marathi: हेल्मेट n (helmeṭ), शिरस्त्राण n (śirastrāṇ)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дуулга (mn) (duulga)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hjelm (no) m

  Nynorsk: hjelm m

• Occitan: casco (oc) m, èlm m
• Old Anatolian Turkish: توغلقه (toğulga, tuğulga)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: шлѣмъ m (šlěmŭ)

• Old East Slavic: шеломъ m (šelomŭ)
• Old English: helm m
• Old Norse: hjalmr m
• Old Polish: szłom m
• Ottoman Turkish: باشلق (başlık), سرپنك (serpenek), توولغه, تولغه, تولقه, تغلغه, توغلغه
• Persian: (bicycle helmet) کلاه ایمنی ورزشی, خود (fa) (xud), کلاه ایمنی (fa), کلاه کاسکت
• Plautdietsch: Schiltmetz f
• Polish: hełm (pl) m, kask (pl) m
• Portuguese: capacete (pt) m, elmo (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਹੈਲਮਟ m (hailmaṭ)
• Romanian: cască (ro) f, coif (ro) n
• Russian: шлем (ru) m (šlem), ка́ска (ru) f (káska), шело́м (ru) m (šelóm) (obsolete)
• Scottish Gaelic: clogaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шле̏м m, ка̀цига f

  Roman: šlȅm (sh) m, kàciga (sh) f

• Slovak: helma (sk) f, prilba f
• Slovene: čelada (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nagłownik m, nagłowk m

  Upper Sorbian: nahłownik m, helm m

• Spanish: casco (es) m, yelmo (es) m (full-face helmet), bacinete (es) m (similar to yelmo), casquete m, morrión (es) m, celada (es) f (with movable facial visor)
• Swahili: helmeti, kofia ya chuma
• Swedish: hjälm (sv) c
• Tagalog: kasko
• Telugu: శిరస్త్రాణము (te) (śirastrāṇamu)
• Thai: หมวกนิรภัย (mùuak-ní-rá-pai), หมวกเชื่อม (mùuak-chʉ̂ʉam)
• Tibetan: རྨོག (rmog)
• Turkish: kask (tr), miğfer (tr)
• Turkmen: tuwalga
• Ukrainian: шоло́м m (šolóm), ка́ска (uk) f (káska)
• Urdu: ہیلْمیٹ m (helmeṭ), خود m (xod)
• Uzbek: dubulgʻa (uz)
• Vietnamese: mũ bảo hiểm (帽保險), nón bảo hiểm (𥶄保險)
• Welsh: helm f, helmed f, helmedau f pl
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cover with, or as if with, a helmet.
   • 1913 August 28, “English Non-Militant Suffragists in Parade”, in The Union Signal, volume XXXIX, number 35, Evanston, Ill., page 12:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 2014, Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You the Sun, New York, N.Y.: Dial Books, →ISBN, page 96:

     And then they’re fleeing in a second rain of meteorites, their arms helmetting their heads, as they run away from us.

Anagrams

• Lethem

Cebuano

Etymology

From English helmet, from Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, a diminutive of helme.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: hel‧met

Noun

helmet

1. a helmet; a protective head covering, usually part of armour

Verb

helmet

1. to wear a helmet

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:helmet.

Finnish

Noun

helmet

1. nominative plural of helmi
2. necklace made of pearls or beads

Declension

Inflection of helmet (Kotus type 7/ovi, no gradation)
nominative		—	helmet
genitive		—	helmien
partitive		—	helmiä
illative		—	helmiin
		singular	plural
nominative		—	helmet
accusative	nom.	—	helmet
	gen.	—
genitive		—	helmien
partitive		—	helmiä
inessive		—	helmissä
elative		—	helmistä
illative		—	helmiin
adessive		—	helmillä
ablative		—	helmiltä
allative		—	helmille
essive		—	helminä
translative		—	helmiksi
abessive		—	helmittä
instructive		—	helmin
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of helmet (Kotus type 7/ovi, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative — helmeni accusative nom. — helmeni gen. — genitive — helmieni partitive — helmiäni inessive — helmissäni elative — helmistäni illative — helmiini adessive — helmilläni ablative — helmiltäni allative — helmilleni essive — helminäni translative — helmikseni abessive — helmittäni instructive — — comitative — helmineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative — helmesi accusative nom. — helmesi gen. — genitive — helmiesi partitive — helmiäsi inessive — helmissäsi elative — helmistäsi illative — helmiisi adessive — helmilläsi ablative — helmiltäsi allative — helmillesi essive — helminäsi translative — helmiksesi abessive — helmittäsi instructive — — comitative — helminesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative — helmemme accusative nom. — helmemme gen. — genitive — helmiemme partitive — helmiämme inessive — helmissämme elative — helmistämme illative — helmiimme adessive — helmillämme ablative — helmiltämme allative — helmillemme essive — helminämme translative — helmiksemme abessive — helmittämme instructive — — comitative — helminemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative — helmenne accusative nom. — helmenne gen. — genitive — helmienne partitive — helmiänne inessive — helmissänne elative — helmistänne illative — helmiinne adessive — helmillänne ablative — helmiltänne allative — helmillenne essive — helminänne translative — helmiksenne abessive — helmittänne instructive — — comitative — helminenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative — helmensä accusative nom. — helmensä gen. — genitive — helmiensä partitive — helmiään helmiänsä inessive — helmissään helmissänsä elative — helmistään helmistänsä illative — helmiinsä adessive — helmillään helmillänsä ablative — helmiltään helmiltänsä allative — helmilleen helmillensä essive — helminään helminänsä translative — helmikseen helmiksensä abessive — helmittään helmittänsä instructive — — comitative — helmineen helminensä

Synonyms

• (necklace): helminauha

Middle English

Alternative forms

• helmette, helmett, helmete

Etymology

From Old French helmet; equivalent to helm +‎ -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛlˈmɛt/, /ˈhɛlmɛt/

Noun

helmet

1. A helmet; an armoured piece of headgear.

Descendants

• English: helmet
• Scots: hoomet

References

• “helmet, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-18.

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English helmet, from Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, ultimately from Germanic origin. Doublet of almete.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈhelmet/ [ˈhɛl.mɛt̪̚]
• Rhymes: -elmet
• Syllabification: hel‧met

Noun

helmet (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜒᜎ᜔ᜋᜒᜆ᜔)

1. helmet

   Synonym: (rare) almete

References

• “helmet”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018