aid

Meanings

1. Help given to someone, especially money, supplies or support in a difficult situation.
2. A thing that helps you do something.

Example sentences

• "The country sent aid to the region after the earthquake."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The nurse gave first aid to the runner who fell."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "He uses a hearing aid in his left ear."

  Level B1, Meaning 2

• "The charity provides food aid to families in need."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• aide : An aide is a person who helps a leader or a nurse. Aid is the help itself.
• assistance : Assistance is the formal word for help. Aid is shorter and is often used for help in a crisis.

Word family and forms

Forms: aids

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "aid".

• first aid
• financial aid
• humanitarian aid
• foreign aid
• a hearing aid
• come to someone's aid

Idioms and phrases

come to someone's aid

To help someone who is in trouble.

"The neighbors came to her aid when the pipe burst."

Origin

Aid came into English in the 1400s from Anglo-French and Old French aide, a noun from the verb aidier, to help. The French verb comes from Latin adiutare, to assist, built on adiuvare, to help. The same root gives us the word aide.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Aid sounds like the first part of aide and ate: AID, with the same long a. It means help.

Test yourself

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