helo
Americannoun
Usage
What does helo mean? Helo is a slang term for helicopter. Although the hel part of helicopter is pronounced with a short e (like hell), helo is sometimes pronounced with a long e and a long o: HEE-low. Helo is most often used as military slang. In general, the slang term chopper is more commonly used to refer to a helicopter. Example: Our helo crashed a few clicks back, so we’ve been on foot.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of helo
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We have a helo inbound, three point five minutes out,” the camera operator said.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 15, 2025
“This is a large facility that will house helo pilots and response personnel under one roof to produce reduced response times to the missile complex,” Dammeier said.
From Washington Times • Feb. 20, 2021
“I was a helo pilot overseas, now I’m waitlisted for commercial flight school in Denver. I thought it might fun to be in Aspen for the holidays. Two, maybe three more weeks.”
From Salon • Sep. 26, 2018
Questions surrounded the crash: Why were so many from our most elite military unit on one helo?
From Time • Aug. 12, 2012
On New Year’s Eve, we were able to get in a short helo trip to Mount Sirius, about a 20-minute flight from CTAM, to look at deposits of the Sirius Formation.
From New York Times • Jan. 7, 2011
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
