helium
he·li·um/ˈhiː.li.əm/noun
helium is spelled H-E-L-I-U-M: 6 letters and 3 syllables (he·li·um). It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, helium means “The second-lightest chemical element (symbol He), with an atomic number of 2 and atomic weight of 4.002602, a colorless, odorless and inert noble gas” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of helium is heliums.
How many letters and syllables are in helium?
| Letters | 6: H-E-L-I-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: he·li·um |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is helium?
Helium appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce helium?
- /ˈhiː.li.əm/
Helium has 3 syllables, split he·li·um in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-helium.wav, En-us-helium.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Tesco250-helium.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of helium
- heliums plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does helium mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The second-lightest chemical element (symbol He), with an atomic number of 2 and atomic weight of 4.002602, a colorless, odorless and inert noble gas.
- 2
A form or sample of the element.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Helium in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense chemical element:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does helium come from?
From New Latin helium, from Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) (because its presence was first theorised in the Sun's atmosphere) with the suffix + -ium. Probably coined by Norman Lockyer. This suffix is unusual, because it is usually used only for metallic elements. It is likely that Lockyer, being an astronomer, was unaware of the usual chemical conventions.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).