- 1靠自己解決問題的那種「自助」；不是自助餐。書局裡這類書台灣多半叫勵志、自我成長，封面不一定寫 self-help。
Self-help is using your own effort to deal with problems, instead of depending on other people to fix them for you. A self-help group is people with the same trouble who meet and support each other. In in English-speaking countries, self-help is also a whole shelf: books that promise to make you calmer, richer, or more confident. That shop meaning is often the one meet first. Though actually, "self-help" on a cover is a sales label as much as a promise — some of those books are wise, and some just sound warm. The word can also mean practical DIY: a self-help guide to filling in a form, a self-help repair manual. It is a noun. We say "self-help" or "a self-help book," not "I self-help."
self-help 指靠自己的力量處理問題，而不是倚賴別人替你解決。「a self-help group」是有同樣困擾的人聚在一起、互相支持的團體。它也可以指實用的自己動手做，像「a self-help guide」（教你自己填表的指南）或「a self-help repair manual」（自己修理的手冊）。在名詞前面時，常寫成「a self-help ＿＿」。它是名詞，常說「self-help」或「a self-help book」。
在英語國家的書店裡，self-help 還指整排書架上的書，承諾讓你更冷靜、更有錢或更有自信。很多學習者最先是在書店裡遇到這個意思。台灣多半叫它勵志或自我成長。封面上的「self-help」既是銷售標籤，也是一種承諾，有些書很有智慧，有些只是聽起來很溫暖。
From the word’s history
self- + help.
由 self-（自己）加上 help 組成。
組成From self- + help. self- is the old English piece for "oneself" (Old English self). help is aid.
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
self-helpnoun
- 1
The practice of bettering oneself without relying on the assistance of others.
- a self-help book
- 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
lawAn act of redressing or preventing a wrong by one's own actions rather than through legal proceedings.
- self-help repossession
- Murder is dealt with by the law of blood-revenge, but the innocent manslayer may seek asylum at God's altar. With murder are ranked man-stealing, offences against parents, and witchcraft. Other injuries are occasions of self-help or of private suits to be adjusted at the sanctuary.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。