helicopter: [19] The term helicopter was coined in the mid-19th century from Greek hélix ‘spiral’ (source of English helix [16] and helical [17]) and Greek ptéron ‘wing’ (source of English pterodactyl and related to feather). The French were first in the field with hélicoptère, and the earliest record of the word in English, in 1861, was the barely anglicized helicoptere, but by the late 1880s the modern form helicopter was being used. (These 19th-century helicopters were of course a far cry from the present-day rotorblade- driven craft, which were introduced in the late 1930s; as their name suggests, they were lifted – or more usually not lifted – by rotating spiral-shaped aerofoils.) => feather, helical, helix, pterodactyl
helicopter (n.)
1861, from French hélicoptère "device for enabling airplanes to rise perpendicularly," thus "flying machine propelled by screws." The idea was to gain lift from spiral aerofoils, and it didn't work. Used by Jules Verne and the Wright Brothers, the word transferred to helicopters in the modern sense when those were developed in the 1920s. From Greek helix (genitive helikos) "spiral" (see helix) + pteron "wing" (see pterodactyl). Nativized in Flemish as wentelwiek "with rotary vanes."
双语例句
1. A helicopter crashed in a fiery explosion in Vallejo.
一架直升机在瓦列霍爆炸起火并坠毁。
来自柯林斯例句
2. A black Mercedes screeched to a halt beside the helicopter.
一辆黑色的梅赛德斯轿车在直升机旁嘎的一声刹住了。
来自柯林斯例句
3. She served six months in prison for the helicopter caper.
她因为直升机一案坐了6个月牢。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The helicopter crash landed when one of its two engines cut out.
直升机的两个发动机中有一个停止运转，只好迫降了。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The silence was broken by the whirring of a helicopter.