different between helper vs volunteer

English

Etymology

From Middle English helpere, from Old English *helpere, from Proto-West Germanic *help?r? (“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”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?h?lp?/

Noun

helper (plural helpers)

1. One who helps; an aide; assistant; auxiliary.
2. That which helps; anything serving to assist.
   • 2005, PC World (volume 23, page 158)

     While Adobe's Acrobat Reader, Macromedia's Flash player, and other common plug-ins suggest themselves the moment you encounter a site that requires them, other browser helpers are harder to find.

   • 2012, Jude Deveraux, The Mulberry Tree (page 84)

     He no longer liked food that had “helper” in the name, such as Hamburger Helper and Tuna Helper. Patsy said he'd become uppity, and maybe, when it came to food, he had.

   • 2014, Neale Blackwood, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants (page 154)

     If a particular calculation is to be used a few times, it makes sense to put it in a helper cell so that it can be referred to by other formulas.

3. (Singapore) A person who does cleaning and cooking in a family home, or in a market; domestic employee.
4. (rail transport, US) a locomotive that assists a train, usually on steep gradients.

Synonyms

• banker (locomotive)

Translations

Anagrams

• Hepler

Cebuano

Etymology

From English helper.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: hel?per

Noun

helper

1. a maid; a servant or cleaner
2. an aide

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch helpere. Equivalent to helpen +? -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???l.p?r/
• Hyphenation: hel?per

Noun

helper m (plural helpers, diminutive helpertje n)

1. One who helps, gives aid; deputy, assistant, aide, flunky

   Synonyms: assistent, hulp

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin volunt?rius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary +? -eer.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /v?l.?n?t??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /v?l.?n?t??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Hyphenation: vol?un?teer

Noun

volunteer (plural volunteers)

1. One who enters into, or offers for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
2. (military) One who enters into military service voluntarily, but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers; -- opposed to conscript; specifically, a voluntary member of the organized militia of a country as distinguished from the standing army.
3. (law) A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
4. (botany, agriculture) A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
5. A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

Related terms

• voluntarism
• voluntarist
• volunteership

Translations

Verb

volunteer (third-person singular simple present volunteers, present participle volunteering, simple past and past participle volunteered)

1. (intransitive) To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To do or offer to do something voluntarily.

   to volunteer for doing the dishes

3. (transitive) To offer, usually unprompted.

   to volunteer an explanation

4. (intransitive, botany) To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.
5. (transitive, informal) To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

   My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.

Translations

References

• volunteer in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.