# aid

Pronunciation: say "AYD" /eɪd/

## Noun

1. Help, support, or relief given to a person or group in need.
   - Simple: Help or support given to someone who needs it.
   - _International aid reached the disaster zone within days of the earthquake._
   - _The charity provides financial aid to students from low-income families._
3. A thing or device that provides help or makes a task easier.
   - Simple: A thing that helps you do something more easily.
   - _Diagrams serve as a valuable aid in explaining complex machinery._
   - _She relied on a walking aid after the surgery._
4. A person who assists another, especially an official or officer; a less common spelling of aide.
   - Simple: A person who helps or assists someone else. It is more often spelled aide.
   - _The colonel dictated the report to his aid, who copied it out by candlelight before dawn._
   - _Riding beside the general, his young aid scribbled down each order and galloped off to deliver it._
5. A rider's use of the hands, legs, voice, and other means to direct and control the horse.
   - Simple: A signal a rider gives a horse with the hands, legs, seat, or voice to guide it.
   - _A subtle aid from the seat shifted the horse into a canter._
   - _If the horse ignores a gentle leg aid, the rider can reinforce it with a light tap of the crop._

## Verb

2. To give support to someone or something, helping its progress along.
   - Simple: To help someone or something succeed or make progress.
   - _Several nonprofits aid refugees as they settle into new communities._
   - _Regular practice aids students in mastering a new language._
6. To climb a rock face using equipment such as pitons to support one's weight rather than relying on holds alone.
   - Simple: To climb a rock face using gear like metal spikes to hold your weight.
   - _The team chose to aid the overhanging crack with a row of pitons._
   - _On the blankest pitches, even strong climbers must aid where no holds exist._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A subsidy that Parliament granted to the crown for an extraordinary purpose, such as funding a war.
- (noun) In feudal times, a payment of money that a vassal owed his lord on certain special occasions.
- (noun) A loan transacted through the Exchequer, the office that managed the crown's money.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–5** — The noun goes back to Latin "adiūtāre" ("to assist, help"), which gave the Old French verb "aidier" and the noun "eide, aide"; English took it over as Middle English "aide." Spanish "ayuda," Portuguese "ajuda," and Italian "aiuto" are related.
**Meanings 2, 6** — The verb starts from Latin "adiuvō" ("to assist"), whose frequentative form "adiuto" passed into Old French as "eider, aider, aidier" and then into Middle English as "aiden."

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