aider

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English aid

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English aider

From aid + -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪdə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪdɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪdə(ɹ)
• Homophones: (non-rhotic) Ada, Adur

Noun

aider (plural aiders)

1. A person who aids or assists.
   • 1548, Edward Hall, “The trobleous season of Kyng Henry the sixt, The .xv. yere”, in Hall’s Chronicle‎^[1], London: Richard Grafton:

     The capitaines of the toune seyng theire pillers borken, and their chief ayders discomfited, rendered the toune to the duke of Somerset,

   • 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie‎^[2], London: Richard Field, Book 3, Chapter 15, p. 254:

     […] arte is neither an aider nor a surmounter, but onely a bare immitatour of natures works, following and counterfeyting her actions and effects […]

   • 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Of the Internal Economy of Dotheboys Hall”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 73:

     […] being there as an assistant, he actually seemed—[…]—to be the aider and abettor of a system which filled him with honest disgust and indignation, […]

   • 1898, Paul Laurence Dunbar, chapter III, in The Uncalled: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 23:

     The woman in question had, as she said, been a close friend of Margaret’s, and, as such, an aider in her habits of intemperance.

2. (climbing) A mountaineer's stirrup or étrier.

   As I was switching my feet in my aiders, the hook popped.

Usage notes

Often used in the phrase aider and abettor; see also aid and abet.

Related terms

• aide
• first-aider

Anagrams

• Dirae, adire, aired, deair, idear, irade, redia

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French ayder, from Old French aidier, from Latin adiutāre (“to help, assist”). Cognate with Catalan aidar, Spanish ayudar, Romanian ajuta, Italian aiutare, Portuguese and Catalan ajudar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ.de/ ~ /e.de/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: ai‧der

Verb

aider

1. (transitive) to help; to aid

   Synonym: obliger (Louisiana)

   J’aide mon frère à porter ses cartons.

   I'm helping my brother carry his boxes.

   Elle aide souvent les sans-abris.

   She helps the homeless often.

   Cette méthode aide la mémoire.

   This method helps with memory.

2. (pronominal) to use

   Il s’aide de la rampe pour monter l’escalier.

   He uses the banister to climb the stairs.

Conjugation

Conjugation of aider (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	aider
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	aidant /ɛ.dɑ̃/ or /e.dɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		aidé /ɛ.de/ or /e.de/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	aide /ɛd/	aides /ɛd/	aide /ɛd/	aidons /ɛ.dɔ̃/ or /e.dɔ̃/	aidez /ɛ.de/ or /e.de/	aident /ɛd/
	imperfect	aidais /ɛ.dɛ/ or /e.dɛ/	aidais /ɛ.dɛ/ or /e.dɛ/	aidait /ɛ.dɛ/ or /e.dɛ/	aidions /ɛ.djɔ̃/ or /e.djɔ̃/	aidiez /ɛ.dje/ or /e.dje/	aidaient /ɛ.dɛ/ or /e.dɛ/
	past historic2	aidai /ɛ.de/ or /e.de/	aidas /ɛ.da/ or /e.da/	aida /ɛ.da/ or /e.da/	aidâmes /ɛ.dam/ or /e.dam/	aidâtes /ɛ.dat/ or /e.dat/	aidèrent /ɛ.dɛʁ/ or /e.dɛʁ/
	future	aiderai /ɛ.dʁe/ or /e.dʁe/	aideras /ɛ.dʁa/ or /e.dʁa/	aidera /ɛ.dʁa/ or /e.dʁa/	aiderons /ɛ.dʁɔ̃/ or /e.dʁɔ̃/	aiderez /ɛ.dʁe/ or /e.dʁe/	aideront /ɛ.dʁɔ̃/ or /e.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	aiderais /ɛ.dʁɛ/ or /e.dʁɛ/	aiderais /ɛ.dʁɛ/ or /e.dʁɛ/	aiderait /ɛ.dʁɛ/ or /e.dʁɛ/	aiderions /ɛ.də.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.də.ʁjɔ̃/	aideriez /ɛ.də.ʁje/ or /e.də.ʁje/	aideraient /ɛ.dʁɛ/ or /e.dʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	aide /ɛd/	aides /ɛd/	aide /ɛd/	aidions /ɛ.djɔ̃/ or /e.djɔ̃/	aidiez /ɛ.dje/ or /e.dje/	aident /ɛd/
	imperfect2	aidasse /ɛ.das/ or /e.das/	aidasses /ɛ.das/ or /e.das/	aidât /ɛ.da/ or /e.da/	aidassions /ɛ.da.sjɔ̃/ or /e.da.sjɔ̃/	aidassiez /ɛ.da.sje/ or /e.da.sje/	aidassent /ɛ.das/ or /e.das/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	aide /ɛd/	—	aidons /ɛ.dɔ̃/ or /e.dɔ̃/	aidez /ɛ.de/ or /e.de/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera
• emploi aidé

Related terms

• aide

Descendants

• Saint Dominican Creole French: hinder
• Haitian Creole: ede
• Mauritian Creole: ede
• → English: mayday (from (venez) m'aider!)

Further reading

• “aider”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• aride
• raide