helix

noun (plural helices /-ləˌsēz/)

• an object having a three-dimensional shape like that of a wire wound uniformly in a single layer around a cylinder or cone, as in a corkscrew or spiral staircase.
• Geometry a curve on a conical or cylindrical surface that would become a straight line if the surface were unrolled into a plane.
• Biochemistry an extended spiral chain of atoms in a protein, nucleic acid, or other polymeric molecule.
• Architecture a spiral ornament.
• Anatomy the rim of the external ear.