different between relief vs help

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???li?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Etymology 1

From Old French relief (“assistance”), from Old French relever (“to relieve”), from Latin relevare (“to raise up, make light”). See also relieve.

Noun

relief (countable and uncountable, plural reliefs)

1. The removal of stress or discomfort.
2. The feeling associated with the removal of stress or discomfort.
3. Release from a post or duty, as when replaced by another.
4. The person who takes over a shift for another.
5. Aid or assistance offered in time of need.
6. (law) Court-ordered compensation, aid, or protection, a redress.
7. A lowering of a tax through special provisions; tax relief.
8. A certain fine or composition paid by the heir of a tenant upon the death of the ancestor.

Synonyms

• (removal of stress and discomfort): ease, alleviation, liss, respite
• (feeling of removal of stress and discomfort): ease, alleviation, liss
• (person who takes over a shift): stand-in, substitute, backup, fill-in

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Italian rilevare (“to raise”), from Latin relevare (“to raise”).

Noun

relief (countable and uncountable, plural reliefs)

1. A type of sculpture or other artwork in which shapes or figures protrude from a flat background.
2. The apparent difference in elevation in the surface of a painting or drawing made noticeable by a variation in light or color.
3. The difference of elevations on a surface.

   the relief on that part of the Earth's surface

4. (heraldry) The supposed projection of a charge from the surface of a field, indicated by shading on the sinister and lower sides.

Synonyms

• (type of artwork): embossing
• (difference of elevations on a surface): texture, topography

Derived terms

• relief map

Translations

Adjective

relief (comparative more relief, superlative most relief)

1. (of a surface) Characterized by surface inequalities.
2. Of or used in letterpress.

Anagrams

• Leifer, e-filer, liefer, refile, relfie, relife

French

Etymology

Old French, from relever.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.lj?f/

Noun

relief m (plural reliefs)

1. projection, relief
2. (geography, mineralogy) relief, surface elevation
3. (figuratively) contrast, definition, offset (against something else)
4. (sculpture) relief

Derived terms

• bas-relief

Further reading

• “relief” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Polish

Etymology

From French relief, from Old French relief (“assistance”), from relever (“to relieve”), from Latin relevare (“to raise up, make light”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?l.j?f/

Noun

relief m inan

1. relief

Declension

Romanian

Etymology

From French relief.

Noun

relief n (plural reliefuri)

1. relief (difference of elevations on the Earth's surface)

Related terms

• reliefa
• reliefare
• reliefat

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