mindmap root((助手)) assistant applies to any such a person, regardless of the status of the work: a carpenter’s ~. helper often implies apprenticeship in a trade or status as an unskilled laborer: a mother’s ~ who performs the duties of a nursemaid. coadjutor implies equality except in authority and may be used of a coworker or volunteer: viewed the librarian as ~ of her researches. aid, aide are often interchangeable: a nurse’s ~, a teacher’s ~; but aide frequently and aid rarely denotes a special, highly qualified assistant who acts as an adviser: the President and his chief ~s formulating domestic policy. aide, aide-de-camp designate specifically a military officer who personally attends a general, a sovereign, a president, or a governor, often as an escort but sometimes with definite duties: instructed his ~ to keep the press away.