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^[1], 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)
• 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: please add this translation if you can
• 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)
• 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