aileron

noun

ai·​le·​ron ˈā-lə-ˌrän 

: a movable airfoil at the trailing edge of an airplane wing that is used for imparting a rolling motion especially in banking for turns see airplane illustration

Examples of aileron in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their job is to program the movable parts on an airplane’s tail and wings—the rudder, elevators, and nearly two dozen ailerons, flaperons, and spoilers—to smooth out its flight automatically when turbulence hits. —Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026

There is an entry point that left a small round hole in one side of the aileron as well as damage at the likely exit point on the other side. —Kris Van Cleave, CBS News, 24 Feb. 2026

The program wants to understand how a plane performs without flaps, rudders, ailerons, or other moving surfaces that normally control motion. —Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 26 Nov. 2025

The goal of the X-65 is to study how to do away with things like rudders, flaps, ailerons and other control surfaces. —New Atlas, 25 Nov. 2025

The rudders are interconnected with the ailerons, meaning someone with two limbs can fly it. —Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 27 July 2025

While the frames of the fuselage and tail are constructed from steel tubing, the wings and ailerons are wood, and the whole aircraft is wrapped in a synthetic fabric called Ceconite. —Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 21 May 2025

Kwak: Other structural components such as wing control surfaces (such as an aileron or a rudder) will be made of edible material by 3D food printing or molding. —IEEE Spectrum, 8 Mar. 2023

Among the pieces recovered are an engine blade and engine pylon, the left and right horizontal stabilizers, pieces of the wings and the plane's aileron autopilot actuators. —Karson Yiu, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, "tip of a bird's wing, fin, aileron of an airplane," going back to Middle French aleron "tip of a bird's wing," from aelle, aile "wing" (going back to Old French ele, going back to Latin āla) + -eron, diminutive suffix, probably from -ier -er entry 2 + -on, diminutive suffix, going back to Latin -ōn-, -ō, suffix of nouns denoting persons with a prominent characteristic (from construal of nouns such as quarteron "a quarter-pound weight" —from quartier "quarter" + -on, diminutive suffix— as if formed from quart "quarter" + -eron) — more at ala

Note: The first print occurrence of aileron in reference to an airfoil used to control roll was probably in the French aeronautics journal L'Aérophile, 16e année, no. 13 (1 juillet 1908), p. 255. The aeronautics journalist Auguste Nicolleau used the word in a description of Louis Blériot's latest airplane, the Blériot VIII. Curiously, a different journalist in the same issue uses aileron for the elevators ("gouvernails de profondeur") of the dirigible République.

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing aileron

• Frise aileron

Rhymes for aileron

• antiphon
• autobahn
• carillon
• castellan
• celadon
• cephalon
• chitosan
• cynodon
• denouement
• deuteron
• echelon
• epsilon

Kids Definition

aileron

noun

ai·​le·​ron ˈā-lə-ˌrän 

: a movable part (as a flap) of an airplane wing or a movable body apart from the wing for giving a rolling motion and as a result providing control sideways