Skip to content

hélicoptère

helicopter

noun eh-lee-kop-TEHR Less Common

Origin: Greek helix (spiral) + pteron (wing)

Usage Note

hélicoptère is masculine. Informally it is sometimes shortened to hélico (m) in spoken French. A parent who is overprotective is called a parent hélicoptère (helicopter parent), a loan translation from English that is increasingly common in French media.

Examples

"L'hélicoptère survole la montagne."

Natural Translation

The helicopter flies over the mountain.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic