Favor vs Help - What's the difference?
favor | help |
A kind or helpful deed; an instance of voluntarily assisting (someone).
Goodwill; benevolent regard.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady.
A small gift; a party favor.
* Shakespeare
Mildness or mitigation of punishment; lenity.
* Jonathan Swift
The object of regard; person or thing favoured.
* Milton
(obsolete) Appearance; look; countenance; face.
* Shakespeare
(legal) Partiality; bias.
(archaic, polite) A letter.
(obsolete, in the plural) lovelocks
(transitive) To look upon fondly; to prefer.
* And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored', the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. —, King James version, ' 1611
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=6 (transitive) To do a favor [noun sense 1] for; to show beneficence toward.
(transitive) To treat with care.
(transitive) To have a similar appearance, to look like another person.
(uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
(usually, uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
(usually, uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
(uncountable, euphemistic) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.
To provide assistance to (someone or something).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To contribute in some way to.
To provide assistance.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can .
In transitive terms the difference between favor and help
is that favor is To have a similar appearance, to look like another person while help is to avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.favor
English
Alternative forms
* favour (qualifier)Noun
(en noun)- A marriage favour is a bunch or knot of white ribbons or white flowers worn at a wedding.
- Wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap.
- I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence.
- All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man, / His chief delight and favour .
- This boy is fair, of female favour .
- (Bouvier)
- Your favour of yesterday is received.
- (Wright)
Usage notes
* Favor' is the standard US spelling, and an alternative in Canada. ' Favour is the standard spelling in Canada and outside North America. * English speakers usually "do' someone a favor" (rather than *"'''make''' them a favor", which would be sense 3 only). See for uses and meaning of ' favour collocated with these words.Derived terms
* in favor * in favor of * party favor * favoriteVerb
(en verb)citation, passage=Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.}}
Derived terms
* favorite (favourite) * favoritism (favouritism) * favorable (favourable) * favored (favoured) ----help
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) .Noun
(en-noun)- I need some help with my homework.
- He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
- I've printed out a list of math helps .
- I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
- The help is coming round this morning to clean.
- Most of the hired help is seasonal, for the harvest.
- His suicide attempts were a cry for help .
- He really needs help in handling customer complaints.
- ''"He's a real road-rager." / "Yup, he really needs help , maybe anger management."
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.Quotations
(English Citations of "help")Synonyms
* (action given to provide assistance) aid, assistance * (person or persons who provide assistance) * (person employed to help in the maintenance of a house)Derived terms
* cry for help * help desk * helpful * helpless * helpline * helply * helpmate * helpmeet * helpsome * home help * self-helpEtymology 2
From (etyl) helpen, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) .Verb
Snakes and ladders, passage=Risk is everywhere.
citation, passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help , and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}
A punch in the gut, passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}