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."
雙語例句
1. A helicopter crashed in a fiery explosion in Vallejo.
一架直升機在瓦列霍爆炸起火并墜毀。
來自柯林斯例句
2. A black Mercedes screeched to a halt beside the helicopter.
一輛黑色的梅賽德斯轎車在直升機旁嘎的一聲剎住了。
來自柯林斯例句
3. She served six months in prison for the helicopter caper.
她因為直升機一案坐了6個月牢。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The helicopter crash landed when one of its two engines cut out.
直升機的兩個發(fā)動機中有一個停止運轉，只好迫降了。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The silence was broken by the whirring of a helicopter.