helmet
hel·met/ˈhɛlmɪt/noun, verb
helmet is spelled H-E-L-M-E-T, 2 syllables: hel·met. The wrong spelling people search most is helment: about 240 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 36 of all searches for the word. Helmet is a noun meaning “A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour”. The plural of helmet is helmets.
How many letters and syllables are in helmet?
| Letters | 6: H-E-L-M-E-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: hel·met |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 6,884th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, helment, about 240 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell helmet?
Helmet is spelled H-E-L-M-E-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 36 of the searches for helmet in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is helmet?
Helmet appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th 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 helmet?
- /ˈhɛlmɪt/
- /ˈhɛlmət/
Helmet has 2 syllables, split hel·met in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-helmet.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of helmet
- helmets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- helmeting participle, present
- helmetting participle, present
- helmeted participle, past
- helmetted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does helmet mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.
- 2
The upper part of a chemist's retort.
- 3
The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.
- 4
A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.
- 5
The glans penis.
- 6
derogatoryA contemptible or stupid person.
verb
- 1
To cover with, or as if with, a helmet.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Helmet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense protective head covering:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | casque |
| German | Helm |
| Portuguese | capacete, elmo |
| Spanish | casco, yelmo, bacinete, casquete, morrión, celada |
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 helmet come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).