help

See also: HELP and Help

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hĕlp, IPA(key): /hɛlp/
  • (Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated) enPR: hĕp, IPA(key): /hɛp/[1]
  • Rhymes: -ɛlp
  • Audio (UK); “to help”:(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English help, from Old English help (“help, aid, assistance, relief”), from Proto-Germanic *helpō (“help”), *hilpiz, *hulpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälpe (“help”), West Frisian help (“help”), Dutch hulp (“help”), Low German Hülp (“help”), German Hilfe (“help, aid, assistance”), Danish hjælp (“help”), Swedish hjälp (“help”), Norwegian hjelp (“help”).

Noun

help (usually uncountable, plural helps)

  1. (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
    I need some help with my homework.
  2. Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
    He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
  3. (computing) Documentation provided with computer software that could be accessed using the computer.
    I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
  4. (countable) A study aid.
    I've printed out a list of math helps.
    • c. 2002, “Scripture Study Helps”, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints‎[1]:
      In 1979 the Church published a Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Version of the Bible in English. Included in this edition were numerous helps to make a study of the scriptures more meaningful and rewarding.
  5. (usually uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
    The help is coming round this morning to clean.
    Most of the hired help is seasonal, for the harvest.
  6. (uncountable) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.
    His suicide attempts were a cry for help.
    He really needs help in handling customer complaints.
    “He’s a real road-rager.” / “Yup, he really needs help, maybe anger management.”
Usage notes
  • The sense “people employed to help in the maintenance of a house” is usually an uncountable mass noun. A countable form — “a hired help”, “two hired helps” — is attested, but now less common. Helper could be used if no more specific noun is available.
Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:help.

Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Middle English helpen, from Old English helpan (“to help, aid, assist, benefit, relieve, cure”), from Proto-West Germanic *helpan, Proto-Germanic *helpaną (“to help”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”).

Cognate with West Frisian helpe (“to help”), Dutch helpen (“to help”), Low German helpen, hölpen (“to help”), German helfen (“to help”), Danish hjælpe (“to help”), Norwegian hjelpe (“to help”), Lithuanian šelpti (“to help, support”).

Verb

help (third-person singular simple present helps, present participle helping, simple past helped or (archaic) holp, past participle helped or (archaic) holpen)

  1. (transitive) To provide assistance to (someone or something).
    He helped his grandfather cook breakfast.
    • 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
      Risk is everywhere. […] For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. “The Norm Chronicles” […] aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.
  2. (transitive) To assist (a person) in getting something, especially food or drink at table; used with to.
    It is polite to help your guests to food before serving yourself.
    Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge.
  3. (transitive) To contribute in some way to.
    The white paint on the walls helps make the room look brighter.
    If you want to get a job, it helps to have some prior experience.
    I've already taken three pills, but they don't seem to help my headache.
  4. (intransitive) To provide assistance.
    She was struggling with the groceries, so I offered to help.
    Please, help!
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.
    • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:
      Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
  5. (transitive) To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.
    We couldn’t help noticing that you were late.
    We couldn’t help but notice that you were late.
    She’s trying not to smile, but she can’t help herself.
    Can I help it if I'm so beautiful?
    Can I help it that I fell in love with you?
    Are they going to beat us? Not if I can help it!
    She never does more than she can help.
  6. (Hong Kong, Singapore) To do something on the behalf of someone.[2]
    Can you help me buy some groceries?
    Underlying meaning is “Can you go do the groceries for me?”
  7. (Singapore, Singlish, imperative) To assist or sympathize with (the speaker); used to express displeasure, disappointment or exasperation.
    Compare Malay tolong (“help; please”) and Hokkien 導郎 / 导郎 (tō͘-lông, “help; please”)
    Help lah. ― Give me a break.
Usage notes
  • Use 4 is often used in the imperative mood as a call for assistance.
  • In uses 1, 2, 3 and 4, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. It can also take the bare infinitive with no change in meaning.
  • In use 5, can't help is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) or, with but, the bare infinitive.
  • For more information, see Appendix:English catenative verbs
Conjugation
Conjugation of help
infinitive (to) help
present tense past tense
1st-person singular help helped, holp†
2nd-person singular help, helpest† helped, helpedst†, holp†
3rd-person singular helps, helpeth† helped, holp†
plural help
subjunctive help helped, holp†
imperative help —
participles helping helped, holpen†

† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from help (verb)
Translations

Interjection

help!

  1. A cry of distress or an urgent request for assistance
    — Take that, you scoundrel.
    — Help! Robin, help!
    (Robin Hood (1973))
  2. (Internet slang, text messaging) A way to signal uncontrollable laughter; implying the risk of dying of laughter and needing assistance.
    helpppp that's too funny, did she rlly say that?
Translations

References

  1. ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (2 March 1942) “3. The Consonants”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 2, page 88.
  2. ^ Tony T.N. Hung (2012) chapter 7, in Ee-Ling Low, Azirah Hashim, editors, English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 126: “In HKE, the implication is usually to do something on behalf of someone, and not just to assist someone in doing it. For example, when someone asks you “Can you help me wash the dishes?”, the expectation is that you will do it for (rather than with) that person.”

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch helpen, from Middle Dutch helpen, from Old Dutch helpan, from Proto-West Germanic *helpan, from Proto-Germanic *helpaną.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɦɛlp/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

help (present help, present participle helpende, past participle gehelp)

  1. to help

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɦɛlp/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛlp

Etymology 1

Interjection

help!

  1. help!
Alternative forms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

help

  1. inflection of helpen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

Esperanto

Etymology

From the bare root of helpi, following the model of English help! considered as internationally understood.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /help/
  • Rhymes: -elp
  • Hyphenation: help

Interjection

help

  1. (as a cry of distress)

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian helpa, from Proto-West Germanic *helpan.

Pronunciation

Verb

help (present help, 2nd singular helpst, 3rd singular helpt, past holp, perfect holpen)

  1. (Heligoland, Sylt) to

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *helpu, from Proto-Germanic *helpō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /xelp/, [heɫp]

Noun

help f

  1. help

Declension

Strong ō-stem:

singular plural
nominative help helpa, helpe
accusative helpe helpa, helpe
genitive helpe helpa
dative helpe helpum

Descendants

  • Middle English: help

References

Old Norse

Verb

help

  1. first-person singular present indicative active of hjalpa

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English help.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hɛlp/

Noun

help m (uncountable, not mutable)

  1. help, aid
    Synonyms: cymorth, cynhorthwy

Derived terms

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian helpe, from Proto-Germanic *helpō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hɛlp/

Noun

help c (plural helpen, diminutive helpke)

  1. help, assistance, aid
    Synonyms: assistinsje, bystân

Further reading

  • “help (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English helpen, from Old English helpan, from Proto-West Germanic *helpan.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hɛlp/

Verb

help

  1. to help
    • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 104:
      He zide hea'de help mee udh o' hoan
      He said he'd help me out of hand

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 104
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