# helping

Pronunciation: say "HEL-ping" /ˈhɛlpɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of help. — present participle and gerund of help
   - Simple: Present participle of help. Use it after "is" or "was", or for the act itself: "Helping others feels good."
   - _Volunteers are helping rebuild homes after the flood._
   - _He spent the afternoon helping his neighbor move furniture._

## Noun

2. A portion of food served to or taken by one person, or an amount of something thought of as such a portion.
   - Simple: An amount of food for one person at a meal, or an amount of something else thought of like that.
   - _The waiter brought generous helpings of pasta to every table._
   - _Grandma always insisted on a third helping before dessert._

## Origin

**Meaning 2** — In English terms this is help with the suffix -ing; Middle English already had it as helping, also spelled helpinge or helpynge.
**Meaning 1** — From Middle English helpinge (also helpynge, helpinde, helponde, helpand), from Old English helpende, the present participle of helpan ('to help'), equivalent to help plus -ing. It is cognate with Dutch helpend, German helfend, and Swedish hjälpande.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/helping (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).