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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

helium

/ˈhiliəm/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:55
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Let the last two vowels stay separate.

The first syllable has the ee vowel and the main stress. Keep the lighter ee-like vowel after l separate from the relaxed vowel before m.

3 syllables · Stress on syllable 1

TRY SAYING
The balloon was filled with helium.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does helium mean?

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.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈhiliəm/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

On the one hand there is helium, a non-inflammable gas which would render airships almost immune to such attacks.
George WhaleBritish Airships, Past, Present, and FutureProject Gutenberg ebook #762
He seemed quite familiar with the geography of the outerworld, and when I said I was from Helium he raised his brows.
Edgar Rice BurroughsThe warlord of MarsProject Gutenberg ebook #68
More book examples (3)
Moreover, helium is found occluded in most if not all radio-active minerals in amount which approaches, but never exceeds, the quantity suggested by theory.
A. C. (Albert Charles) SewardDarwin and Modern ScienceProject Gutenberg ebook #1909
This for the free and non-navigable balloon, though for the airship, carrying means of combustion, and in military work liable to ignition by explosives, the gas helium seems likely to replace hydrogen, being non-combustible.
Evelyn Charles Vivian; W. Lockwood (William Lockwood) MarshA History of AeronauticsProject Gutenberg ebook #874
Let us note well that their spectra, so far as we have been able to determine them, are of the early types; mostly helium and hydrogen stars, and a very few of the Class F, intermediate between the hydrogen and solar stars.
VariousThe Scientific Monthly, October to December, 1915Project Gutenberg ebook #987