helper

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈhɛlpɚ/ See IPA manual

Freq #13033

Meanings

1

noun
A person who helps someone with a task.

The teacher chose two helpers to hand out the books.
2

noun
A thing that gives assistance or makes a task easier.

This little tool is a real helper when fixing bikes.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who helps someone... assistant

Word family

Forms helpers

Derived forms helper-uphelperlessoath-helperself-helper

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

helper cell
an immune cell that helps activate other cells in an immune response

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English helpere, from Old English *helpere, from Proto-West Germanic *helpārī (“helper”), equivalent to help + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälper (“helper”), West Frisian helper (“helper”), Dutch helper (“helper”), German Low German Helper (“helper”), German Helfer (“helper”), Danish hjælper (“helper”), Swedish hjälpare (“helper”), Icelandic hjálpar (“helper”).

helpere Middle English *helpere Old English *helpārī Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# helper

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɛlpɚ/
**Frequency rank:** 13033

## Meanings
1. A person who helps someone with a task.
2. A thing that gives assistance or makes a task easier.

## Examples
- The teacher chose two helpers to hand out the books.
- This little tool is a real helper when fixing bikes.

## Derived Forms
- helper-up
- helperless
- oath-helper
- self-helper

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: helpere
- Root: *helpere
- Root: *helpārī

## Etymology
From Middle English helpere, from Old English *helpere, from Proto-West Germanic *helpārī (“helper”), equivalent to help + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälper (“helper”), West Frisian helper (“helper”), Dutch helper (“helper”), German Low German Helper (“helper”), German Helfer (“helper”), Danish hjælper (“helper”), Swedish hjälpare (“helper”), Icelandic hjálpar (“helper”).

## AI Etymology
Helper comes from Middle English helpere, from Old English *helpere, from Proto-West Germanic *helpārī (“helper”), equivalent to help + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälper (“helper”), West Frisian helper (“helper”), Dutch helper (“helper”), German Low German Helper (“helper”), German Helfer (“helper”), Danish hjælper (“helper”), Swedish hjälpare (“helper”), Icelandic hjálpar (“helper”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. In current use, the main senses are “A person who helps someone with a task” and “A thing that gives assistance or makes a task easier”.

## Topics
- People & Society

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