The word helix comes from the Greek for vine tendrils — the same root that gives us volume, revolve, and waltz.
A three-dimensional curve that spirals around an axis at a constant distance, like a corkscrew or the structure of DNA.
From Latin helix, from Greek helix (ἕλιξ), meaning spiral, coil, or winding, from the verb helissein (to turn, to wind around), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (to turn, to roll). Key roots: *wel- (Proto-Indo-European: "to turn, to roll, to wind").
The Greek word helix originally referred to something much more mundane than DNA — it described the curling tendrils of ivy and grapevines. The same PIE root *wel- that gives us helix also gives us volume (a rolled scroll), revolve, waltz, and even vulva. When Watson and Crick described DNA's shape in 1953 as a "double helix," they gave this ancient Greek vine-word the most famous scientific application in history.