Aid vs Aide – Difference and Comparison

What is Aid?

The English language includes so many words that differ in meaning a bit. With such a large number of words with different meanings, it’s natural to get confused with their usage.

Aid is a word in the English language that means to provide help. Usually, it is used when help is provided by an independent working organization to another independent working organization.

For Example, India provided Aid to Nepal during Earthquake.
The Indian government is an independent working government and Nepal too is an independent working government. In this context, Aid is used.

Aid is, most of the time, used as a Noun and Verb.
As a noun “Aid” refers primarily to the help itself.
For example,
1.Marie needs financial Aid for further studies.
2.He was in deep need of Aid after the natural calamity.
3.He tends to come to Aid seeing someone in need.

As a verb word refers to helping someone
For example,
1.She was aided by the NGO for her disease.
2.Soldiers aided prisoners of War.
3.Sonu aided people who suffered due to the flood.

Except for all of this, Aid is also used to refer to encouraging someone.
For example,
Healthy food aids a healthy body.

What is Aide?

The word ‘aide’ is pronounced the same as Aid, although there is a difference of “e” in the spellings, and meanings have a drastic change. Aides are used to referring to the person assisting someone. The point to be noted is Aides are always used for a person.

Hence, it is always used as a noun only. No other part of speech can be used to refer to Aides
For Example,
1.Dr. Ashutosh works as an Aide to the surgeon.
2.Samar requires an Aide for the project.
3.Prabhu is appointed as Aide to the Colonel.

Aides are nothing but the plural form of aide.
For Example,
1.All the aides of the colonel are supposed to meet and decide.
2.The aides provided to me are of great use.

The aide is supposed to be a person helping one with something. The help could be of any form. Most of the time, the Aide word is used for assistants who are related to military or political background.

The aide will always refer to a person soo it is important to note that usage of the article “the” or in the case of Aide “an” is a must. Not doing so, will result in grammatical mistakes.

Difference Between Aid and Aide

  1. “Aid” is a word referring to helping someone in need of it. On the other hand, “Aide” refers to an assistant or the person providing help.
  2. Aide is always used to refer to a person therefore it’s always a noun. In contrast to it, Aids is used as a noun or verb, both having different meanings.
  3. The plural form of Aide is Aides whereas the plural form of Aid is Aids. This should not be confused with the disease AIDS.
  4. Aid is used in context when one entity helps another entity whereas Aide is used in the context of assistance related to political or military background
  5. Examples of Aid can be, the soldiers who provided Aids to those who were affected by the flood. An example of Aides can be he works as an Aide to the colonel.

Comparison Between Aid and Aide

Parameters of ComparisonAidAide
MeaningAid means to provide help to someone.Aide means the person assisting someone.
Parts of SpeechAid is used as Noun or Verb.Aide is always used as a noun.
Plural formPlural of Aid is “Aids”.Plural form of Aide is supposed to be Aides.
ContextAid is used in context where help is provided by one entity to another.Aides is mostly used in context of military and political services.
For Example,Mahira needs financial Aid for further studies.Nitesh aides all the people so much that he forgets his own work.

References

  1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0040059914537202?journalCode=tcxa
  2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/caje.12455