different between help vs good

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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

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: go?od, IPA^(key): /??d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): [???d], [???d]
• (AAVE) enPR: go?o(d), IPA^(key): /??(d)/
• Rhymes: -?d

Etymology 1

From Middle English good, from Old English g?d, from Proto-West Germanic *g?d, from Proto-Germanic *g?daz, from Proto-Indo-European *g?ed?- (“to unite, be associated, suit”). Cognate with Russian ??????? (gódnyj, “fit, well-suited, good for; (coll.) good”), ??? (god), "year", via "suitable time". Not related to the word god.

Alternative forms

• g’d (poetic contraction)
• goode (obsolete)

Adjective

good (comparative better, superlative best)

1. (of people)
   1. Acting in the interest of what is beneficial, ethical, or moral.
      • 1460-1500, The Towneley Plays?

        It is not good to be alone, to walk here in this worthly wone.

      • 1500?, Evil Tongues?

        If any man would begin his sins to reny, or any good people that frae vice deed rest ain. What so ever he were that to virtue would apply, But an ill tongue will all overthrow again.

      • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ch.6

        When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.

   2. Competent or talented.
      • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

        And Marsha says I am a good cook!

   3. Able to be depended on for the discharge of obligations incurred; of unimpaired credit; used with for.

   4. Well-behaved (especially of children or animals).

   5. (US) Satisfied or at ease

   6. (archaic) Of high rank or birth.
2. (of capabilities)
   1. Useful for a particular purpose; functional.
      • 1526, Herball?

        Against cough and scarceness of breath caused of cold take the drink that it hath been sodden in with Liquorice[,] or that the powder hath been sodden in with dry figs[,] for the same the electuary called dyacalamentum is good[,] and it is made thus.
   2. Effective.

      • There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

   3. (obsolete) Real; actual; serious.

      • Love no man in good earnest.

3. (properties and qualities)
   1. (of food)
      1. Edible; not stale or rotten.

      2. Having a particularly pleasant taste.
         • c. 1430 (reprinted 1888), Thomas Austin, ed., Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with Extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55 [Early English Text Society, Original Series; 91], London: N. Trübner & Co. for the Early English Text Society, volume I, OCLC 374760, page 11:

           Soupes dorye. — Take gode almaunde mylke […] caste þher-to Safroun an Salt […]

         • 1962 (quoting 1381 text), Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242:

           dorr??, d?r? adj. & n. […] cook. glazed with a yellow substance; pome(s ~, sopes ~. […] 1381 Pegge Cook. Recipes page 114: For to make Soupys dorry. Nym onyons […] Nym wyn […] toste wyte bred and do yt in dischis, and god Almande mylk.

      3. Being satisfying; meeting dietary requirements.

   2. Healthful.

   3. Pleasant; enjoyable.

   4. Favourable.

   5. Unblemished; honourable.

   6. Beneficial; worthwhile.
   7. Adequate; sufficient; not fallacious.

      • My reasons are both good and weighty.
4. (colloquial, when with and) Very, extremely. See good and.

5. Holy (especially when capitalized) .

6. (of quantities)
   1. Reasonable in amount.

   2. Large in amount or size.

      • The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line, which seems to have shown some ingenuity in avoiding them, […].

   3. Full; entire; at least as much as.

Usage notes

The comparative gooder and superlative goodest are nonstandard.In informal (often jocular) contexts, best may be inflected further and given the comparative bester and the superlative bestest; these forms are also nonstandard.

Synonyms

• (having positive attributes): not bad, all right, satisfactory, decent, see also Thesaurus:good
• (healthful): well
• (competent or talented): accomplished
• (acting in the interest of good; ethical): See Thesaurus:goodness

Antonyms

• (having positive attributes): bad, poor
• (ethical): bad, evil

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

good

1. That is good; an elliptical exclamation of satisfaction or commendation.

   Good! I can leave now.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English goode (“good, well”, adverb), from the adjective. Compare Dutch goed (“good, well”, adverb), German gut (“good, well”, adverb), Danish godt (“good, well”, adverb), Swedish godt (“good, well”, adverb), all from the adjective.

Adverb

good (comparative better, superlative best)

1. (nonstandard) Well; satisfactorily or thoroughly.

   The boy done good. (did well)

   • 2007 April 19, Jimmy Wales, “Jimmy Wales on the User-Generated Generation”, Fresh Air, WHYY, Pennsylvania [1]

     The one thing that we can't do...is throw out the baby with the bathwater.... We know our process works pretty darn good and, uh, it’s really sparked this amazing phenomenon of this...high-quality website.

Derived terms

• but good
• a good many

Etymology 3

From Middle English good, god, from Old English g?d (“a good thing, advantage, benefit, gift; good, goodness, welfare; virtue, ability, doughtiness; goods, property, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *g?d? (“goods, belongings”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ed?-, *g?od?- (“to unite, be associated, suit”). Compare German Gut (“item of merchandise; estate; property”).

Noun

good (countable and uncountable, plural goods)

1. (uncountable) The forces or behaviours that are the enemy of evil. Usually consists of helping others and general benevolence.

   Antonyms: bad, evil

2. (countable) A result that is positive in the view of the speaker.

   Antonym: bad

3. (uncountable) The abstract instantiation of goodness; that which possesses desirable qualities, promotes success, welfare, or happiness, is serviceable, fit, excellent, kind, benevolent, etc.

   He is an influence for good on those girls.

   • There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

   • 1788, John Jay, The Federalist Papers No. 64:

     […] the government must be a weak one indeed, if it should forget that the good of the whole can only be promoted by advancing the good of each of the parts or members which compose the whole.

4. (countable, usually in the plural) An item of merchandise.

   • Thy lands and goods / Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate / Unto the state of Venice.

Derived terms

• (item of merchandise): capital goods, consumer goods

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English goden, godien, from Old English g?dian (“to improve, get better; make better; endow, enrich”), from Proto-West Germanic *g?d?n (“to make better, improve”), from Proto-Germanic *g?daz (“good, favourable”).

Verb

good (third-person singular simple present goods, present participle gooding, simple past and past participle gooded)

1. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To thrive; fatten; prosper; improve.
2. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To make good; turn to good; improve.
3. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To make improvements or repairs.
4. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To benefit; gain.
5. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To do good to (someone); benefit; cause to improve or gain.
6. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To satisfy; indulge; gratify.
7. (reflexive, now chiefly dialectal) To flatter; congratulate oneself; anticipate.

Derived terms

• gooding

Etymology 5

From English dialectal, from Middle English *goden, of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish göda (“to fatten, fertilise, battle”), Danish gøde (“to fertilise, battle”), ultimately from the adjective. See above.

Verb

good (third-person singular simple present goods, present participle gooding, simple past and past participle gooded)

1. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) To furnish with dung; manure; fatten with manure; fertilise.
   • April 5 1628, Bishop Joseph Hall, The Blessings, Sins, and Judgments of God's Vineyard

     Nature was like itself , in it , in the world : God hath taken it in from the barren downs , and gooded it : his choice did not find , but make it thus

Derived terms

• goodening

Further reading

• good at OneLook Dictionary Search
• good in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• good in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Dutch Low Saxon

Adjective

good

1. good

Limburgish

Etymology

From Middle Dutch goet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?o??d], [?o??t]

Adjective

good (comparative baeter, superlative bès, predicative superlative 't 't bès)

1. good

Inflection

Middle English

Alternative forms

• god

Etymology

From Old English g?d.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?o?d/
• Rhymes: -o?d

Adjective

good (plural and weak singular goode, comparative bettre, superlative best)

1. good (of good quality or behaviour)
2. good (morally right or righteous)
   • 14th c., Chaucer, General Prologue:

3. advantageous, wealthy, profitable, useful
4. large; of a great size or quantity
5. Having a great degree or extent.

Descendants

• English: good
• Scots: guid
• Yola: gooude, gayde

References

• “g??d, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-17.