helpful

English

Alternative forms

• helpfull (archaic)
• helpefull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English helpful; equivalent to help +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlp.fʊl/, /ˈhɛlp.fəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

helpful (comparative more helpful, superlative most helpful)

1. Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.

   Antonym: unhelpful

   a helpful clue

   a helpful person

   • 1597, Jacques Guillemeau, translated by A. M., The Frenche chirurgerye‎, Dort: Iſaac Canin, page 48:

     […] inſtructe the yonge Chyrurgiane, becauſe that vvithout making any great delaye, he might be adiuvable & helpefull to the patient vvith theſe remedyes vvhich conſequently follovve.

Derived terms

• helpfully
• helpfulness
• unhelpful

Translations

furnishing help; giving aid; useful

Afrikaans: behulpsaam Arabic: نَافِع (nāfiʕ), مُفِيد (mufīd) Armenian: օգտակար (hy) (ōgtakar) Azerbaijani: köməksevər Bulgarian: полезен (bg) (polezen), услужлив (bg) (uslužliv), отзивчив (bg) (otzivčiv) Catalan: útil (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 有幫助／有帮助 (zh) (yǒubāngzhù) Czech: nápomocný Danish: hjælpsom Dutch: behulpzaam (nl) Esperanto: helpema Estonian: (of people) abivalmis (et); (useful) kasulik Finnish: (of people) avulias (fi), auttavainen (fi); (useful) hyödyllinen (fi) French: utile (fr), serviable (fr), aidant (fr) Georgian: დამხმარე (damxmare), მარგებელი (margebeli), სასარგებლო (sasargeblo), გამოსადეგი (gamosadegi), ვარგისი (vargisi) German: hilfreich (de) Greek: Ancient: ὠφέλιμος (ōphélimos) Gujarati: please add this translation if you can Hindi: मददगार (hi) (madadgār) Hungarian: segítőkész (hu), készséges (hu), szolgálatkész (hu), hasznos (hu) Icelandic: hjálpsamur, gagnlegt Ido: helpema (io) Irish: cúntach Italian: disponibile (it), utile (it), d'aiuto Japanese: 役に立つ (ja) (yakunitatsu), 有用 (ja) (yūyō) Javanese: please add this translation if you can Latin: opifer, adiūtābilis Norwegian: hjelpsom Persian: سودمند (fa) Plautdietsch: behelplich Polish: pomocny (pl), uczynny (pl) (of people) Portuguese: prestável (pt), útil (pt) Romanian: util (ro), ajutător (ro) Russian: поле́зный (ru) (poléznyj), (of people) любе́зный (ru) (ljubéznyj) Scottish Gaelic: cuideachail Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: pomocny Spanish: servicial (es), útil (es), adyuvante (es), acomedido (es), solícito (es), oficioso (es), ayudador (es) Swahili: please add this translation if you can Swedish: hjälpsam (sv) Telugu: please add this translation if you can Tocharian B: ekītatstse Urdu: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: hay giúp đỡ