help
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: hĕlp
ipa: /hɛlp/
note: Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated
enpr: hĕp
ipa: /hɛp/
note: Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated
rhymes: -ɛlp
Forms: form: helps
form: helping
form: helped
form: holp
form: helped
form: holp
form: holpen
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: help
form: help
form: helped
form: holp
form: help
form: helpest
form: helped
form: helpedst
form: holp
form: helps
form: helpeth
form: helped
form: holp
form: help
form: helped
form: holp
form: help
form: helped
form: holp
form: help
form: -
form: helping
form: helped
form: holpen
Etymology: 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 North Frisian halep, heelpe, help (“to help”), Saterland Frisian hälpe (“to help”), West Frisian helpe (“to help”), Cimbrian hölfan (“to help”), Dutch helpen (“to help”), German helfen (“to help”), Low German helpen, hölpen, hülpen (“to help”), Luxembourgish hëllefen (“to help”), Yiddish העלפֿן (helfn, “to help”), Danish hjælpe (“to help”), Faroese, Icelandic hjálpa (“to help”), Norwegian Bokmål hjelpe (“to help”), Norwegian Nynorsk hjelpa, hjelpe (“to help”), Swedish hjälpa (“to help”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐍀𐌰𐌽 (hilpan, “to help”), Lithuanian šelpti (“to help, support”).
Senses: examples: text: He helped his grandfather cook breakfast.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
glosses: To provide assistance to (someone or something).
examples: text: It is polite to help your guests to food before serving yourself.
text: Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge.
glosses: To assist (a person) in getting something, especially food or drink at table; used with to.
examples: text: The white paint on the walls helps make the room look brighter.
text: If you want to get a job, it helps to have some prior experience.
text: I've already taken three pills, but they don't seem to help my headache.
glosses: To contribute in some way to.
examples: text: She was struggling with the groceries, so I offered to help.
text: Please, help!
text: 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.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:
glosses: To provide assistance.
examples: text: We couldn’t help noticing that you were late.
text: We couldn’t help but notice that you were late.
text: She’s trying not to smile, but she can’t help herself.
text: Can I help it if I'm so beautiful?
text: Can I help it that I fell in love with you?
text: Are they going to beat us? Not if I can help it!
text: She never does more than she can help.
glosses: To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.
examples: text: Can you help me buy some groceries?
glosses: To do something on the behalf of someone.
examples: text: Compare Malay tolong (“help; please”) and Hokkien 導郎 /导郎 (tō͘-lông, “help; please”)
text: Help lah.
translation: Give me a break.
english: Give me a break.
glosses: To assist or sympathize with (the speaker); used to express displeasure, disappointment or exasperation.
Synonyms: sense: provide assistance to
word: aid
word: assist
word: come to the aid of
word: help out
sense: contribute in some way to
word: contribute to
sense: provide assistance
word: assist
word: abet
word: befriend
word: bestead
word: come to someone's aid
word: give someone a hand
word: grip
word: help
word: lend a hand
word: lend a helping hand
word: mend
word: stead
word: succor
word: succour
word: support
word: sustain
word: relieve
Hyponyms: word: bootstrap
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: behelp
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: cannot help
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: can't help
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: can't help but
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: heaven help someone
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helpability
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helpable
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: help a lame dog over a stile
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helpee
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helper
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helping
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helping hand
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helpingly
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helping profession
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: helping verb
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: help oneself
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: help out
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: may I help you
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: overhelp
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: so help my tater
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: unhelp
sense: Terms derived from help (verb)
word: unhelping
Related terms: word: serve