Helping
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The act of giving aid or assistance (to). countable, uncountable
"She finds great joy in helping people."
- 2 an individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a meal wordnet
- 3 A portion or serving, especially of food that one takes for oneself, or to which one helps oneself. countable
"She eagerly took a second helping of ice cream."
- 4 An amount or quantity. countable, figuratively
"Wayne Rooney marked his England return with the goal that secured a place in Euro 2012's last eight - but it was a rough passage eased by helpings of good fortune and controversy against Ukraine."
- 1 present participle and gerund of help form-of, gerund, participle, present
Example
More examples""Thank you for helping me." "Don't mention it.""
Etymology
From Middle English helping, helpinge, helpynge, equivalent to help + -ing.
From Middle English helpinge, helpynge, helpinde, helponde, helpand, from Old English helpende, present participle of Old English helpan (“to help”), equivalent to help + -ing. Cognate with Dutch helpend, German helfend, Swedish hjälpande.
Related phrases
More for "helping"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.