self-help

self-help

English

Etymology

self- +‎ help

Noun

self-help (uncountable)

1. The practice of bettering oneself without relying on the assistance of others.

   a self-help book

   • 1997, Carlin, George, Brain Droppings‎, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, LCCN 96-52373, OCLC 36084460, OL 26335012M, page 91:

     Look at the self-help titles in the bookstore, and you'll get a few clues about our culture. They're all about aggression and acquisition. It wouldn't be at all surprising to see a book called How to Force your Will on Other People by Giving Them the Shaft and Fucking Them out of Their Money.

2. (law) An act of redressing or preventing a wrong by one's own actions rather than through legal proceedings.

Synonyms

• (act of bettering oneself): self-improvement

Translations

bettering oneself without relying on the assistance of others

Chinese: Mandarin: 勵志 (zh), 励志 (zh) (lìzhì) Danish: selvhjælp c Dutch: zelfhulp (nl), zelfhelp (nl) Finnish: itseapu Galician: autoaxuda f German: Selbsthilfe (de) f Greek: αυτοβοήθεια (el) (aftovoḯtheia) Gujarati: સ્વસહાય (svashāya) Hungarian: önsegítés, önsegély, önsegélyezés Irish: féinchabhair f, féinchúnamh m Italian: autoaiuto m Polish: samopomoc f Portuguese: auto-ajuda Russian: please add this translation if you can Serbo-Croatian: samopomoć Spanish: autoayuda (es) f

redressing or preventing a wrong by one's own actions

Chinese: Mandarin: 自助 (zh) (zìzhù) Dutch: please add this translation if you can Finnish: oma apu Hungarian: (taking the law into one's own hands) (please verify) önbíráskodás, (self-defense) (please verify) önvédelem (hu), (please verify) önsegély, (please verify) önsegélyezés