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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

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“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