assistant

assistant n Assistant, helper, coadjutor, aid, aide, aide-de-camp all denote persons who take over part of the duties of another, especially in a subordinate capacity.

Assistant is applicable to a person who meets this description, regardless of the status of his work

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a baker’s assistant

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a bishop’s assistant

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a superintendent’s assistant

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Helper often implies apprenticeship in a trade or the status of an unskilled laborer

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a bricklayer’s helper

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a mother’s helper often performs the duties of a nursemaid

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Coadjutor usually implies equivalence except in authority; it may be used either of a co-worker or a volunteer assistant

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in working so complex a mechanism as the government of the empire he must have willing coadjutors— Buchan

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at St. James I met with a kind and cordial coadjutor in my biblical labors in the bookseller of the place— Borrow

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decided to share the government of the Roman world with a coadjutor— R. M. French

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In a specific use it names or is applied to a bishop who serves as an assistant to the bishop having jurisdiction over a diocese. Especially in Roman Catholic and Protestant Episcopal use it implies the right of succession.

Aid and aide are often interchangeable synonyms of assistant

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a laboratory aid

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aides and orderlies . . . assist the professional nurses— Nursing World

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Aide frequently but aid rarely denotes a special and often highly qualified assistant able to act as an adviser to his principal

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questioned the use of presidential aides in foreign affairs

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with their chief aides they will discuss the problems of the interregnum— N. Y. Times

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Aide and aide-de-camp designate a military or naval officer who personally attends a general or a sovereign, a president or a governor, often as an escort but sometimes with definitely prescribed duties.