helico-, helic-, helici-, heli-, helix-

A sweeping type of gait observed in spastic hemiplegia, resulting from the inability of the leg to be moved forward without describing an arc, the radius of which is external to the body, with the foot scraping the ground.

This is a result of a combination of extensor spasticity, causing difficulty in flexing the knee, together with spastic footdrop.

1. Any of a class of heavier-than-air craft that are lifted and sustained in the air horizontally by rotating wings or blades turning on a vertical axes through power supplied by an engine: Helicopters can fly at right angles to the level ground and horizontally, as well as hover in one place. 
2. Etymology: The term helicopter was borrowed from the French word hélicoptère, a word constructed from Greek heliko- and pteron, "wing". Heliko- is the combining form of helix, "spiral" that has given us helico-, which can be joined with other words and word forms to create new words.

The consonant cluster "pt" in pteron begins many Greek words but relatively few English words. English speakers unfamiliar with Greek are therefore not likely to recognize the word's elements as helico-pter. Many people divide the word into the elements heli-copter, as is shown by the clipped form "copter".

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The coil passage of the ear that connects the scala tympani and scala vestibuli at the apex of the cochlea (part of the internal ear that is concerned with hearing).

1. A spiral. 2. In geometry, the curve formed by a straight line drawn on a plane when that plane is wrapped around a cylindrical surface of any kind; especially, a right circular cylinder, as the curve of a screw.
3. In architecture, a spiral ornament.
4. In anatomy, the curved fold forming most of the rim of the external ear.
5. A structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops.