aide
Pluralaides
- 1An assistant; a person whose work is to help someone else carry out their duties.
She worked as a nurse's aide for two years before applying to medical school.
Home health aides provide daily support for patients recovering from surgery.
Similarassistant, helper, attendant
Note
English took this word from French, where aide means both "aid" and "assistant," and kept mainly the person. An aide is someone who helps, while aid is the help itself, and the final -e tells you which one is meant. In political reporting the word is everywhere, usually tied to a leader: the president's aide, a candidate and his aides.
- 2An officer who serves as assistant to a more senior officer; an aide-de-camp.
The colonel's aide arranged transportation for the visiting delegation.
Two of the senator's most trusted aides resigned over the budget scandal.
Note
The full French form is aide-de-camp, literally "field assistant," and the military title is that phrase in short. The word began in the army but did not stay there. In government and politics it names the close staff who serve a senior figure, which is why a colonel and a senator can both have aides. Unlike the general sense, it implies a post in a hierarchy and a superior to serve.
Practice
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Origin
Borrowed from French aide ("aid; assistant"), as in aide-de-camp ("field assistant").