For help with Wiktionary, see Help:Contents.
Contents
- 1 English
- 1.1 Pronunciation
- 1.2 Etymology 1
- 1.2.1 Noun
- 1.2.1.1 Usage notes
- 1.2.1.2 Quotations
- 1.2.1.3 Synonyms
- 1.2.1.4 Derived terms
- 1.2.1.5 Translations
- 1.2.1 Noun
- 1.3 Etymology 2
- 1.3.1 Verb
- 1.3.1.1 Usage notes
- 1.3.1.2 Conjugation
- 1.3.1.3 Synonyms
- 1.3.1.4 Derived terms
- 1.3.1.5 Translations
- 1.3.2 Interjection
- 1.3.2.1 Translations
- 1.3.1 Verb
- 1.4 References
- 1.5 Anagrams
- 2 Afrikaans
- 2.1 Etymology
- 2.2 Pronunciation
- 2.3 Verb
- 3 Dutch
- 3.1 Pronunciation
- 3.2 Verb
- 4 Esperanto
- 4.1 Etymology
- 4.2 Interjection
- 5 Old English
- 5.1 Etymology
- 5.2 Pronunciation
- 5.3 Noun
- 5.3.1 Declension
- 5.3.2 Descendants
- 5.4 References
- 6 Old Norse
- 6.1 Verb
- 7 Welsh
- 7.1 Etymology
- 7.2 Pronunciation
- 7.3 Noun
- 7.3.1 Derived terms
- 8 West Frisian
- 8.1 Etymology
- 8.2 Pronunciation
- 8.3 Noun
- 8.3.1 Further reading
- 9 Yola
- 9.1 Etymology
- 9.2 Verb
- 9.3 References
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: hĕlp, IPA(key): /hɛlp/
- (Southern American English, AAVE, dated) enPR: hĕp, IPA(key): /hɛp/[1]
- Rhymes: -ɛlp
Audio - 'to help' (UK) (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)
- (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
I need some help with my homework.
- Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
- Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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
- (action given to provide assistance): aid, assistance
Derived terms
Translations
action given to provide assistance
- Afrikaans: hulp(af)
- Albanian: ndihmë(sq)
- Arabic: مُسَاعَدَةf (musāʕada), مَعُونَة(ar)f (maʕūna)
- Moroccan Arabic: عْوينm (ʕwin)
- Aragonese: achudaf, aduyaf
- Aramaic:
- Armenian: օգնություն(hy) (ōgnutʿyun)
- Aromanian: agiutorn
- Assamese: সহায় (xohay)
- Asturian: ayuda(ast)f, aida(ast)f
- Avar: кумек (kumek)
- Azerbaijani: kömək(az), yardım(az), köməklik
- Bashkir: ярҙам (yarðam)
- Basque: laguntza(eu)
- Belarusian: дапамо́гаf (dapamóha)
- Bengali: সাহায্য(bn) (śahajjo), মদদ (modod)
- Bulgarian: по́мощ(bg)f (pómošt)
- Catalan: ajuda(ca)f
- Cebuano: tabang
- Chechen: гӏо (ğo)
- Chinese:
- Chukchi: вэнратгыргын (vėnratgyrgyn)
- Cornish: gweresm, skoodhyansm
- Czech: pomoc(cs)f
- Danish: hjælp(da)c
- Dutch: hulp(nl)
- Esperanto: helpo(eo)
- Estonian: abi(et)
- Extremaduran: ayuaf
- Faroese: hjálpf
- Finnish: apu(fi)
- French: aide(fr)f, secours(fr)m
- Friulian: jutorim
- Galician: axuda(gl)f
- Gallurese: aggjutu, adiutoriu
- Georgian: დახმარება (daxmareba)
- German: Hilfe(de)f
- Greek: βοήθεια(el)f (voḯtheia)
- Haitian Creole: èd
- Hawaiian: kōkua
- Hebrew: עֶזְרָה(he)f (ʿezrá), סיועm (si'yua)
- Hindi: मदद(hi)f (madad), सहायता(hi)f (sahāytā), उपकार(hi)m (upkār)
- Hungarian: segítség(hu)
- Icelandic: hjálp(is)f, aðstoð(is)f, fulltingi(is)n (archaic)
- Ido: helpo(io)
- Ilocano: tulong
- Indonesian: bantuan(id), pertolongan(id)
- Ingush: гӏо (ğo)
- Interlingua: adjuta, succurso
- Irish: cabhairf, cuidiúm, cúnamhm
- Italian: aiuto(it)m, ausilio(it)m
- Ivatan: kasidung
- Japanese: 助け(ja) (たすけ, tasuke), 手助け(ja) (てだすけ, tedasuke), 手伝い(ja) (てつだい, tetsudai), ヘルプ(ja) (herupu)
- Kapampangan: saup
- Kazakh: көмек(kk) (kömek), жәрдем (järdem)
- Khmer: ជំនួយ(km) (cumnuəy)
- Korean: 도움(ko) (doum)
- Kumyk: болушлукъ (boluşluq)
- Kurdish:
- Kyrgyz: жардам(ky) (jardam), көмөк (kömök)
- Latin: auxiliumn, adiumentumn
- Latvian: palīdzībaf
- Lithuanian: pagalba(lt)
- Luxembourgish: Hëllef(lb)f
- Macedonian: помош(mk)f (pomoš)
- Malay: pertolongan, bantuan(ms)
- Malayalam: സഹായം(ml) (sahāyaṁ)
- Maltese: għajnuna(mt), għajnuna(mt)f
- Mòcheno: hilff
- Mongolian: тусламж(mn) (tuslamž)
- Nepali: सहयोग(ne) (sahayog), मदत् (madat)
- Ngazidja Comorian: nusraclass 9/10
- Norwegian: hjelp(no)
- Odia: ସହାୟତା (sôhayôta)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: помощьf (pomoštĭ)
- Oromo: gargaarsa
- Ossetian: ӕххуыс (æxx°ys)
- Persian: کمک(fa) (komak), یاری(fa) (yâri)
- Plautdietsch: Helpf
- Polish: pomoc(pl)f
- Portuguese: ajuda(pt)f, socorro(pt)m, auxílio(pt)m
- Romanian: ajutor(ro)n, asistență(ro)f
- Russian: по́мощь(ru)f (pómoščʹ)
- Sardinian:
- Sassarese: aggiuddu
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Sicilian: ajutu(scn)
- Slovak: pomocf
- Slovene: pomoč(sl)f
- Sorbian:
- Southern Altai: болуш (boluš)
- Spanish: ayuda(es)f, socorro(es)m, auxilio(es)m
- Swahili: msaada(sw)
- Swedish: hjälp(sv)c
- Tagalog: tulong
- Tajik: комак (komak), ёри (yori), ёрдам (yordam)
- Tamil: உதவி(ta) (utavi)
- Tatar: ярдәм(tt) (yardäm)
- Telugu: సహాయము(te) (sahāyamu), సాయము(te) (sāyamu)
- Thai: ความช่วยเหลือ(th) (kwaam-chûai-lʉ̌ʉa)
- Tibetan: རོགས (rogs), རོགས་རམ (rogs ram), ཕྱག་རོགས (phyag rogs) (honorific)
- Tocharian B: ekito, upacai
- Turkish: yardım(tr)
- Turkmen: ýardam, kömek
- Ukrainian: допомо́га(uk)f (dopomóha), по́мічf (pómič)
- Urdu: مددf (madad)
- Uyghur: ياردەم (yardem)
- Uzbek: yordam(uz), bermoq(uz), koʻmak(uz)
- Vietnamese: giúp(vi) (𠢞), giúp đỡ(vi), trợ giúp(vi) (助𠢞), hỗ trợ(vi)
- Volapük: yuf(vo)
- Walloon: aidance(wa)f, aidaedje(wa)m, aide(wa)f
- Welsh: help(cy)m, cymorth(cy)m, cynhorthwym, help llawm
- West Frisian: help
- Yagnobi: ёрдам (yordam)
- Yakut: көмө (kömö)
- Yiddish: הילףf (hilf)
- Zazaki: phasti, yardım
- Zhuang: bangcoh, bang
person or persons who provides assistance with some task
- Albanian: ndihmes asistent(sq)
- Arabic: مُسَاعِد(ar)m (musāʕid)
- Aramaic:
- Armenian: օգնական(hy) (ōgnakan)
- Azerbaijani: köməkçi(az), yardımçı
- Bashkir: ярҙамсы (yarðamsı)
- Basque: laguntzaile
- Belarusian: памо́чнікm (pamóčnik), памо́чніцаf (pamóčnica), памо́цнікm (pamócnik), памо́цніцаf (pamócnica)
- Bulgarian: помо́щник(bg)m (pomóštnik), помо́щничкаf (pomóštnička)
- Czech: pomocník(cs)m, pomocnice(cs)f
- Esperanto: helpanto, helpisto
- Estonian: abiline(et)
- Finnish: apuri(fi), apu(fi)
- French: auxiliaire(fr)m or f, aide(fr)
- Georgian: დამხმარე (damxmare)
- German: Hilfe(de)
- Greek: βοηθός(el)m or f (voïthós)
- Ancient: βοηθόςm (boēthós)
- Icelandic: hjálp(is)f, hjálparhellaf
- Indonesian: pembantu(id), penolong(id)
- Latvian: palīgsm, palīdzef
- Macedonian: помошникm (pomošnik), помошничкаf (pomošnička)
- Malayalam: സഹായി(ml) (sahāyi)
- Norwegian: hjelp(no)m or f
- Polish: pomocnik(pl)m, pomocnica(pl)f, pomoc(pl)f
- Portuguese: ajudante(pt)m, servente(pt)m
- Romanian: ajutor(ro)m, ajutoare(ro)f
- Russian: помо́щник(ru)m (pomóščnik), помо́щница(ru)f (pomóščnica)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: помо̀ћнӣкm, помо̀ћницаf
- Roman: pomòćnīkm, pomòćnicaf
- Slovak: pomocníkm, pomocníčkaf
- Slovene: pomagáčm, pomagáčkaf, pomočnikm, pomočnicaf
- Swahili: msaada(sw)
- Tibetan: རོགས་པ (rogs pa), ཕན་གྲོགས (phan grogs), ཕྱག་རོགས (phyag rogs) (honorific)
- Turkish: yardımcı(tr)
- Ukrainian: помічни́кm (pomičnýk), помічни́цяf (pomičnýcja)
- Walloon: aidant(wa)m
- Welsh: helpwrm, cynorthwyyddm
person employed to help in the maintenance of a house
- Albanian: shërbëtor(sq), shërbëtore(sq)
- Esperanto: servisto
- Estonian: koduabiline(et)
- French: aide(fr)m or f
- Greek: οικιακή βοηθόςf (oikiakí voïthós)
- Hungarian: bejárónő(hu)
- Icelandic: heimilishjálpf
- Indonesian: pembantu(id)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: خزمەتکار (xizmetkár)
- Macedonian: помошникm (pomošnik), помошничкаf (pomošnička)
- Norwegian: hushjelpm or f
- Polish: pomoc(pl)f
- Portuguese: criado(pt)m, criada(pt)f
- Russian: помо́щник(ru)m (pomóščnik), помо́щница(ru)f (pomóščnica), прислу́га(ru) (prislúga)
- Slovene: gospodinjska pomočnicaf
textual support of a software application
- Albanian: ndihmë(sq)
- Bulgarian: помощ(bg)f (pomošt)
- Czech: nápovědaf
- Esperanto: helpilo, helpo(eo)
- Estonian: abi(et)
- French: aide(fr)f
- German: Hilfe(de)f
- Greek: βοήθεια(el)f (voḯtheia)
- Hebrew: עזרה(he)f (ezrá)
- Indonesian: pertolongan(id)
- Macedonian: помош(mk)f (pomoš)
- Malayalam: സഹായം(ml) (sahāyaṁ)
- Portuguese: arquivo de ajudam
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Roman: pȍmōćf
- Slovene: pomoč(sl)f
- Swahili: msaada(sw)
- Tibetan: རོགས་རམ (rogs ram), རོགས་རམ་ཡིག་ཆ (rogs ram yig cha)
- Turkish: yardım(tr)
- Walloon: aidance(wa)f
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)
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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[2]:
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.
- (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.
- (Hong Kong) 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?”
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† |
Synonyms
- (provide assistance to): aid, assist, come to the aid of, help out; See also Thesaurus:help
- (contribute in some way to): contribute to
- (provide assistance): assist; See also Thesaurus:assist
Derived terms
Terms derived from help (verb)
Translations
transitive: provide assistance to (someone or something)
- Afar: cate
- Afrikaans: help(af)
- Albanian: ndihmë(sq)
- Arabic: سَاعَدَ(ar) (sāʕada), عَاوَنَ (ʕāwana), غَاثَ (ḡāṯa)
- Egyptian Arabic: سَاعِد (sāʕid)
- Aragonese: achudar, aduyar(an)
- Aramaic:
- Armenian: օգնել(hy) (ōgnel)
- Aromanian: agiut
- Asturian: ayudar, audar, axudar, aidar
- Azerbaijani: kömək etmək(az), yardım etmək
- Basque: lagundu
- Bau Bidayuh: batu', batu'
- Belarusian: памага́цьimpf (pamahácʹ), памагчы́pf (pamahčý); дапамага́цьimpf (dapamahácʹ), дапамагчы́pf (dapamahčý)
- Bengali: সাহায্য করা(bn) (śahajjo kora)
- Brunei Malay: tulung
- Bulgarian: пома́гам(bg)impf (pomágam), помо́гнаpf (pomógna)
- Burmese: ကူ(my) (ku), ကူညီ(my) (ku-nyi)
- Catalan: ajudar(ca), aidar(ca)
- Cebuano: tabang
- Chinese:
- Cornish: gweres, skoodhya
- Corsican: aiutà(co)
- Crimean Tatar: yardım etmek
- Czech: pomáhat(cs)impf, pomoct(cs) or pomoci(cs)pf
- Danish: hjælpe(da)
- Dutch: helpen(nl)
- Esperanto: helpi(eo)
- Estonian: aitama
- Extremaduran: ayual
- Faroese: hjálpa(fo)
- Finnish: auttaa(fi), opastaa(fi)
- Franco-Provençal: èdiér
- French: aider(fr), secourir(fr)
- Friulian: judâ, socori
- Galician: axudar(gl)
- Georgian: დახმარება (daxmareba)
- German: helfen(de)
- Middle High German: hëlfen
- Gothic: 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐍀𐌰𐌽 (hilpan), 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌹𐌻𐍀𐌰𐌽 (gahilpan)
- Greek: βοηθώ(el) (voïthó), συντρέχω(el) (syntrécho)
- Ancient: βοηθέω (boēthéō)
- Haitian Creole: ede
- Hawaiian: kōkua
- Hebrew: עזר(he) ('azár), סייעm (siyéa')
- Higaonon: tabang
- Hiligaynon: abáng-ábang
- Hindi: मदद करना (madad karnā)
- Hungarian: segít(hu)
- Icelandic: hjálpa(is)
- Ido: helpar(io)
- Ilocano: tumulong, manulong, tulungan
- Indonesian: bantu(id)
- Interlingua: adjutar(ia), succurrer
- Irish: cuidigh le, cabhraigh le
- Italian: aiutare(it)
- Ivatan: manidung, sumidung
- Japanese: 助ける(ja) (たすける, tasukeru), 手伝う(ja) (てつだう, tetsudau)
- Javanese: nulung(jv)
- Kazakh: болысу (bolysu), ермек ету (ermek etu), жәрдем беру (järdem beru), көмек көрсету (kömek körsetu), көмектесу (kömektesu)
- Khmer: ជួយ(km) (cuə yɔɔ)
- Korean: 돕다(ko) (dopda)
- Kumyk: болушмакъ (boluşmaq)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: یارمەتی دان (yarmetî dan)
- Kyrgyz: жардам көрсөтүү (jardam körsötüü), жардам кылуу (jardam kıluu), жардам берүү(ky) (jardam berüü), көмөк берүү (kömök berüü)
- Ladino: ayudar
- Lao: ຊ່ອຍ (sǭi), ຊ່ວຽ (suāi)
- Latin: adiuvō(la), iuvō
- Latvian: līdzēt, palīdzēt
- Lingala: kosálisa
- Lithuanian: padėti(lt)
- Lombard: iuttà(lmo), vütà
- Low German: helpen(nds)
- Luxembourgish: hëllefen(lb)
- Macedonian: помага (pomaga)
- Malay: tolong(ms), bantu(ms)
- Mansaka: tabang
- Maore Comorian: usaidia
- Maori: āwhinatanga
- Maranao: tabang, ogop
- Marathi: मदत करणे (madat karṇe)
- Nahuatl: palehuia
- Navajo: bíká iishyeed
- Neapolitan: ajutà
- Nepali: मदत गर्नु (madat garnu)
- Ngazidja Comorian: usaidia, uɗiriki (udiriki)
- Norman: aîdgi (Jersey)
- North Frisian: (Mooring) heelpe; (Föhr-Amrum) halep
- Norwegian: hjelpe(no)
- Occitan: ajudar(oc), aidar(oc)
- Old English: helpan
- Old Javanese: tuluṅ
- Old Portuguese: ajudar
- Oromo: gargaaruu
- Ossetian: ӕххуыс кӕнын (æxx°ys kænyn)
- Papiamentu: yuda
- Persian: کمک کردن(fa) (komak kardan), یاری کردن(fa) (yâri kardan)
- Polish: pomagać(pl)impf, pomóc(pl)pf
- Portuguese: ajudar(pt), socorrer(pt)
- Quechua: yanapay, yanapai
- Romanian: ajuta(ro), asista(ro)
- Romansch: gidar, güder, güdar
- Russian: помога́ть(ru)impf (pomogátʹ), помо́чь(ru)pf (pomóčʹ)
- Saho: xate
- Salar: bañna
- Sanskrit: अवति(sa) (ávati)
- Sardinian: agiadai, agiuare, agiudai
- Sassarese: achidà, aggiuddà
- Scottish Gaelic: cuidich
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Shan: ၸွႆႈထႅမ်(shn) (tsāui thěm), ၸွႆႈ(shn) (tsāui)
- Sicilian: ajutari(scn)
- Sinhalese: උදව් කරනවා (udaw karanawā)
- Slovak: pomáhaťimpf, pomôcťpf
- Slovene: pomagati(sl)
- Southern Altai: болуш- (boluš-)
- Spanish: ayudar(es)
- Sundanese: bantos
- Swahili: kusaidia
- Swedish: hjälpa(sv)
- Tagalog: tumulong, tulungan
- Tajik: ёри кардан (yori kardan), кумак кардан (kumak kardan)
- Tamil: உதவு(ta) (utavu)
- Tatar: ярдәм итәргә (yardäm itärgä), ярдәм күрсәтергә (yardäm kürsätergä)
- Tetum: tulun
- Thai: ช่วยเหลือ(th) (chûai-lʉ̌ʉa), ช่วย(th) (chûai)
- Tibetan: རོགས་པ་བྱེད (rogs pa byed), རོགས་རམ་བྱེད (rogs ram byed), རོགས་པ་གནང (rogs pa gnang) (honorific), རོགས་རམ་གནང (rogs ram gnang) (honorific), ཕྱག་རོགས་གནང (phyag rogs gnang) (honorific), ཕྱག་རོགས་ཞུ (phyag rogs zhu) (humilific)
- Tok Pisin: helpim
- Turkish: yardım etmek(tr)
- Turkmen: kömekleşmek, ýardam etmek
- Ukrainian: допомага́тиimpf (dopomaháty), допомогти́pf (dopomohtý), помага́тиimpf (pomaháty), помогти́pf (pomohtý)
- Urdu: مدد کرنا (madad karnā)
- Uyghur: ياردەملەشمەك (yardemleshmek), ياردەم بەرمەك (yardem bermek)
- Uzbek: qarashmoq(uz), yordam bermoq, yordamlashmoq(uz)
- Venetian: jutar, giutar(vec), agiutar, aidar, daidar, alturiar
- Vietnamese: giúp(vi), giúp đỡ(vi)
- Welsh: helpu(cy), cynorthwyo(cy)
- West Frisian: helpe
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: tavang, uɣup
- Yiddish: העלפֿן (helfn)
- Yucatec Maya: áant
- Zulu: please add this translation if you can
contribute in some way to
- Albanian: ndihmë(sq) kontribo
- Cornish: gweres, skoodhya
- Estonian: panustama
- Finnish: auttaa(fi)
- French: aider(fr)
- German: helfen(de)
- Greek: βοηθώ(el) (voïthó)
- Hebrew: תרם(he)m (taram)
- Indonesian: membantu(id)
- Latvian: palīdzēt
- Luxembourgish: hëllefen(lb)
- Macedonian: помага (pomaga)
- Norwegian: bidra til, hjelpe til med
- Portuguese: ajudar(pt)
- Romanian: ajuta(ro)
- Russian: помога́ть(ru)impf (pomogátʹ), помо́чь(ru)pf (pomóčʹ)
- Slovene: pomagati(sl)
- Spanish: please add this translation if you can
- Swahili: msaada(sw)
- Welsh: helpu(cy), cynorthwyo(cy)
intransitive: provide assistance
- Bulgarian: помагам(bg) (pomagam)
- Cornish: gweres, skoodhya
- Estonian: abistama(et)
- Finnish: auttaa(fi)
- French: aider(fr)
- Greek: βοηθώ(el) (voïthó)
- Ancient: βοηθῶ (boēthô)
- Indonesian: membantu(id), menolong(id)
- Italian: aiutare(it)
- Latvian: palīdzēt
- Macedonian: помага (pomaga)
- Norwegian: hjelpe til, hjelpe(no)
- Portuguese: ajudar(pt), auxiliar(pt)
- Romanian: ajuta(ro), asista(ro)
- Russian: помога́ть(ru)impf (pomogátʹ), помо́чь(ru)pf (pomóčʹ)
- Slovene: pomagati(sl)
- Swahili: msaada(sw)
- Telugu: సహాయపడు (sahāyapaḍu), సాయం చేయు (sāyaṁ cēyu)
- Tibetan: རོགས་པ་བྱེད (rogs pa byed), རོགས་རམ་བྱེད (rogs ram byed), རོགས་པ་གནང (rogs pa gnang) (honorific), རོགས་རམ་གནང (rogs ram gnang) (honorific), ཕྱག་རོགས་གནང (phyag rogs gnang) (honorific), ཕྱག་རོགས་ཞུ (phyag rogs zhu) (humilific)
- Welsh: helpu(cy), cynorthwyo(cy)
transitive: avoid or prevent
Interjection
help!
- A cry of distress or an urgent request for assistance
— Take that, you scoundrel.
(Robin Hood (1973))
— Help! Robin, help!
- (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
cry of distress
- Albanian: ndihmë(sq)
- Arabic: مُسَاعَدَةf (musāʕada), النَّجْدَةf (an-najda)
- Belarusian: рату́йце! (ratújcje!), дапамажы́це! (dapamažýcje!), на дапамо́гу! (na dapamóhu!)
- Bengali: বাঁচাও(bn) (bãcaō)
- Bulgarian: по́мощ(bg) (pómošt)
- Burmese: ကယ်ပါ (kaipa)
- Catalan: socors, auxili(ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 救命 (gau3 meng6)
- Mandarin: 救命(zh) (jiùmìng)
- Min Nan: 救人(zh-min-nan) (kiùlâng)
- Cornish: harow
- Czech: pomoc(cs)
- Danish: hjælp(da)
- Dutch: help!(nl), hulp!(nl)
- Esperanto: helpon(eo), help!(eo)
- Estonian: appi(et)
- Faroese: hjálp
- Finnish: apua(fi)
- French: au secours(fr), à l’aide(fr), à moi(fr), à nous
- Georgian: მიშველეთ (mišvelet)
- German: Hilfe(de), zu Hilfe
- Greek: βοήθεια(el) (voḯtheia)
- Hebrew: הַצִּילוּ (hatsílu)
- Hungarian: segítség!(hu)
- Icelandic: hjálp(is)
- Italian: aiuto(it)
- Japanese: 助けて (たすけて, tasukete)
- Korean: 도와주세요 (dowajuseyo)
- Latin: aiutum
- Latvian: palīgā
- Lithuanian: padėkite(lt)
- Macedonian: помош(mk) (pomoš)
- Malay: tolong!(ms)
- Northern Sami: veahkki!
- Norwegian: hjelp(no)
- Persian: کمک(fa) (komak)
- Polish: pomocy(pl), ratunku(pl)
- Portuguese: socorro(pt)
- Romanian: săriți(ro), ajutor(ro)
- Russian: помоги́те(ru) (pomogíte), на по́мощь! (na pómoščʹ!), спаси́те! (spasíte!), спаса́йте! (spasájte!)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Slovak: pomoc
- Slovene: na pomoč
- Spanish: socorro(es), auxilio(es), ayuda(es)f
- Swedish: hjälp(sv)
- Tagalog: tulong, saklolo
- Thai: ช่วยด้วย
- Turkish: imdat(tr)
- Ukrainian: ряту́йте! (rjatújte!), допоможі́ть! (dopomožítʹ!), на допомо́гу! (na dopomóhu!)
- Welsh: help(cy)
References
- ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (March 2, 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, page88.
- ^ 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, page126: “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
Verb
help (present help, present participle helpende, past participle gehelp)
- to help
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
help
- inflection of helpen:
Esperanto
Etymology
From the bare root of helpi, following the model of English help! considered as internationally understood.
Interjection
help
- Help! (as a cry of distress)
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *helpu, from Proto-Germanic *helpō.
Pronunciation
Noun
helpf
- help
Declension
Declension of help(strong ō-stem)
Descendants
- Middle English: help
- English: help
- Scots: help
References
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898), “help”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Old Norse
Verb
help
Welsh
Etymology
Borrowed from English help.
Pronunciation
Noun
helpm (uncountable, not mutable)
- help, aid
- Synonyms: cymorth, cynhorthwy
Derived terms
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian helpe, from Proto-Germanic *helpō.
Pronunciation
Noun
helpc (plural helpen, diminutive helpke)
- 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.
Verb
help
- to help
1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6:
He zide hea'de help mee udh o' hoan
- He said he'd help me out of hand