Helping

How to spell helping

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce helping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does helping mean?

1. nounA single portion of food served to one person at a meal.
2. nounThe act of giving aid or assistance to someone.

Helping in a sentence

• He asked for a second helping of mashed potatoes.

• Helping his elderly neighbours with their shopping gave him real satisfaction.

• The recipe makes one generous helping for each person.

• She believes that helping others is its own reward.

Where does helping come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb helpan, meaning 'to assist, support, or come to the aid of', a thoroughly native Germanic word with close cousins in Dutch helpen and German helfen. The everyday suffix -ing was attached to verbs to form both participles and nouns of action, and that is exactly how 'helping' arose: first as the act of giving aid, and later, by a homely transfer of sense, as the portion of food a host gives or 'helps' you to at the table. That dining sense, recorded from around the 1800s, simply pictures the server dishing out aid in the form of dinner. Because the word is built from familiar Germanic pieces, its spelling is regular and gives modern writers very little trouble. The same helpan root still underlies 'helpful', 'helpless', and the old-fashioned cry 'help'.

How the word is built

• help (to assist or aid)
• -ing (suffix forming a noun or participle)