different between boon vs help

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu?n/
• Rhymes: -u?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English boon (“prayer”), from Old Norse bón (“prayer, petition”), from Proto-Germanic *b?niz (“supplication”), influenced by boon (“good, favorable”, adj). Doublet of ben; see there for more.

Noun

boon (plural boons)

1. (obsolete) A prayer; petition.
2. (archaic) That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.
   • 1881, The Bible (English Revised Version), James 1:17:

     Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above [...]

   • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram:^[1]

     I gave you life. Can you not return the boon by giving me death, my lord?

3. A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.

4. (Britain, dialectal) An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Synonyms

• (a thing received) See gift and favor
• (a good thing) blessing; benefit

Antonyms

• bane

Translations

See also

• boon and bane
• boon or bane

Etymology 2

From Middle English boon, bone, borrowed from Old Northern French boon, from Old French bon (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”), from Old Latin duonus, dvenos, from Proto-Indo-European *d?- (“to respect”).

Adjective

boon (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Good; prosperous.

2. (archaic) Kind; bountiful; benign.

   • Which […] Nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

3. (now only in boon companion) gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     a boon companion, loving his bottle

   • Episode 16

     ?No, Mr Bloom repeated again, I wouldn't personally repose much trust in that boon companion of yours who contributes the humorous element, if I were in your shoes.

   • Les Misérables (musical), "Master of the House," second and third refrains, fifth line:

     (2) "Everybody's boon companion, / Everybody's chaperon"; (3) "Everybody's boon companion: / Give[s] 'em everything he's got"

Related terms

• bounty

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English bone (North), akin to or alteration of Old English bune (“reed”).

Noun

boon (uncountable)

1. The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

Synonyms

• shive, shove

References

Anagrams

• Bono, NOBO, Obon, noob

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch boon, from Middle Dutch bône, from Old Dutch *b?na, from Proto-Germanic *baun?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b???n/

Noun

boon (plural bone, diminutive boontjie)

1. bean

Descendants

• ? Xhosa: imbotyi (from the diminutive)

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bône, from Old Dutch *b?na, from Proto-Germanic *baun?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bo?n/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): [bo?n]
• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): [bo??n]
• (Netherlands)
• Hyphenation: boon
• Rhymes: -o?n

Noun

boon f or m (plural bonen, diminutive boontje n)

1. bean

Hypernyms

• peulvrucht

Derived terms

• blauwe boon
• bonenkruid
• bruine boon
• cacaoboon
• kidneyboon
• koffieboon
• rumboon
• snijboon
• sojaboon
• sperzieboon
• tuinboon
• witte boon

Descendants

• Afrikaans: boon
  • ? Xhosa: imbotyi (from the diminutive)
• ? Indonesian: buncis (from the diminutive plural)
• ? Javanese: buncis (from the diminutive plural)
• ? Papiamentu: bonchi (from the diminutive)
• ? Sranan Tongo: bonki (from the diminutive)

Middle English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bo?n/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old Norse bón, from Proto-Germanic *b?niz.

Alternative forms

• bone

Noun

boon (plural boons or boonen)

1. prayer, supplication, request
2. boon, bonus

Descendants

• English: boon
• Scots: boon

Etymology 2

From Old English b?n.

Noun

boon (plural boons)

1. Alternative form of bon

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Old Northern French boon, from Old French bon (“good”).

Alternative forms

• bone

Adjective

boon

1. good

Descendants

• English: boon

For help with Wiktionary, see Help:Contents.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?lp, IPA^(key): /h?lp/
• Rhymes: -?lp

Etymology 1

From Middle English help, from Old English help (“help, aid, assistance, relief”), from Proto-Germanic *help? (“help”), *hilpiz, *hulpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *?elb-, *?elp- (“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)

1. (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.

2. (usually uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.

3. Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.

4. (usually uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.

5. (uncountable) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.

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

Etymology 2

From Middle English helpen, from Old English helpan (“to help, aid, assist, benefit, relieve, cure”), from Proto-West Germanic *helpan, Proto-Germanic *helpan? (“to help”), from Proto-Indo-European *?elb-, *?elp- (“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)

1. (transitive) To provide assistance to (someone or something).

2. (transitive) To assist (a person) in getting something, especially food or drink at table; used with to.

3. (transitive) To contribute in some way to.

4. (intransitive) To provide assistance.

5. (transitive) To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.

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

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

Translations

Interjection

help!

1. A cry of distress or an urgent request for assistance

   (Robin Hood (1973))

Translations

Anagrams

• Pehl

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch helpen, from Middle Dutch helpen, from Old Dutch helpan, from Proto-West Germanic *helpan, from Proto-Germanic *helpan?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???lp/

Verb

help (present help, present participle helpende, past participle gehelp)

1. to help

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?lp

Verb

help

1. first-person singular present indicative of helpen
2. imperative of helpen

Esperanto

Etymology

From the bare root of helpi, following the model of English help! considered as internationally understood.

Interjection

help

1. Help! (as a cry of distress)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *help?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xelp/, [he?p]

Noun

help f

1. help

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

1. first-person singular present indicative active of hjalpa

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English help.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?lp/

Noun

help m (uncountable, not mutable)

1. help, aid

   Synonyms: cymorth, cynhorthwy

Derived terms

• help llaw (“a helping hand”)
• helpu (“to help”)

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian helpe, from Proto-Germanic *help?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?lp/

Noun

help c (plural helpen, diminutive helpke)

1. help, assistance, aid

   Synonyms: assistinsje, bystân

Further reading

• “help (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011