auxiliary

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Auxiliaries

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin auxiliārius (“assistant, ally”), equiv. to auxiliāris (“helping, aiding”), from auxilium (“help, aid”), from augēre (“to increase”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːɡˈzɪl.(j)ə.ɹi/, /ɔːɡˈzɪl.i.ə.ɹi/, /ɔːkˈsɪl-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɡˈzɪl.((j)ə).ɹi/, /ɔɡˈzɪl.i.ɛɹ.i/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɑɡˈzɪl.((j)ə).ɹi/, /ɑɡˈzɪl.i.ɛɹ.i/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪliəɹi
• Rhymes: -ɪliɛəɹi
• Rhymes: -ɪləɹi

Adjective

auxiliary (not comparable)

1. Helping; giving assistance or support.

   auxiliary troops

   Synonyms: ancillary, accessory

2. Supplementary or subsidiary.
3. Held in reserve for exceptional circumstances.
4. (nautical) Of a ship, having both sails and an engine.
5. (grammar) Relating to an auxiliary verb.

Synonyms

• (supplementary): accessory
• (having sails and engine): motorsailer

Translations

helping; giving assistance or support

Armenian: օժանդակ (hy) (ōžandak) Bulgarian: помощен (bg) (pomošten), спомагателен (bg) (spomagatelen) Catalan: auxiliar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 輔助 / 辅助 (zh) (fǔzhù) Czech: pomocný (cs) m Dutch: helpend (nl), ondersteunend (nl), hulp- (prefix) Esperanto: helpa Estonian: abistav (et) Finnish: apu-, lisä- (fi), avustava (fi) German: helfend (de), unterstützend (de), hilfs- (prefix), auxiliar (de) Greek: βοηθητικός (el) m (voïthitikós) Hindi: सहायक (hi) c (sahāyak) Hungarian: kisegítő (hu), segéd- (hu) Ido: helpiva (io), helpanta (io) Irish: cúntach Japanese: 補助の (ほじょの) Korean: 보조 (ko) (bojo) Latin: auxiliāris Polish: pomocniczy (pl) m, pomocnicza f, pomocnicze n Portuguese: auxiliar (pt) Russian: вспомога́тельный (ru) (vspomogátelʹnyj) Serbo-Croatian: pòmoćnī Swedish: hjälp- Welsh: ategol Zazaki: peştiger

supplementary or subsidiary

Armenian: օժանդակ (hy) (ōžandak) Bulgarian: допълнителен (bg) (dopǎlnitelen) Catalan: auxiliar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 附属 (zh) (fùshǔ) Dutch: extra (nl), bijkomend (nl), ondersteunend (nl), hulp- (prefix) Estonian: täiendav Finnish: apu- (fi) German: subsidiär (de), unterstützend (de) Greek: δευτερεύων (el) m (defterévon), επικουρικός (el) m (epikourikós) Hungarian: kiegészítő (hu) Latin: auxiliāris Portuguese: auxiliar (pt) Russian: вспомога́тельный (ru) (vspomogátelʹnyj), дополни́тельный (ru) (dopolnítelʹnyj), запасно́й (ru) (zapasnój) Serbo-Croatian: spȍredan (sh), ȕzgrēdan (sh), ùsputan (sh) Spanish: auxiliar (es) Swedish: stöd-, komplement- Vietnamese: phụ trợ (vi) Welsh: atodol

held in reserve for exceptional circumstances

Bulgarian: резервен (bg) (rezerven) Dutch: reserve- (prefix) Finnish: apu-, lisä- (fi) German: zurückhaltend (de), Greek: αποθεματικός (el) m (apothematikós), ανταλλακτικός (el) m (antallaktikós) Hungarian: tartalék (hu) Polish: rezerwowy (pl) m, rezerwowa f, rezerwowe n Portuguese: auxiliar (pt) Russian: вспомога́тельный (ru) (vspomogátelʹnyj), дополни́тельный (ru) (dopolnítelʹnyj), запасно́й (ru) (zapasnój) Serbo-Croatian: príčuvnī (sh) Swedish: nöd-, reserv-

of a ship, having both sails and an engine

Dutch: met hulpmotor (nl) Finnish: apumoottorillinen Japanese: 補助艦艇の (ほじょかんていの)

relating to an auxiliary verb

Bulgarian: спомагателен (bg) (spomagatelen) Catalan: auxiliar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 助动词 (zh) (zhùdòngcí) Dutch: hulp- (prefix) Finnish: apu- French: auxiliaire (fr) m Hungarian: segédigei, (please verify) segéd- (hu) Japanese: 助動詞の (じょどうしの) Malayalam: സഹായക (sahāyaka) Norwegian: hjelpe-, hjelpeverb n Polish: posiłkowy m, posiłkowa f, posiłkowe n Portuguese: auxiliar (pt) Russian: вспомога́тельный (ru) (vspomogátelʹnyj) Serbo-Croatian: pòmoćnī Welsh: ategol

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Ido: (please verify) auxiliara (io) Interlingua: (please verify) auxiliar Italian: (please verify) ausiliare (it), (please verify) ausiliario (it)

Noun

auxiliary (plural auxiliaries)

1. A person or group that acts in an auxiliary manner.
   • 1950 November, “Mixed-Traffic Diesel-Electric Locomotives for Ireland”, in Railway Magazine, page 781:

     Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.

   • 1962 September, G. Freeman Allen, “The New Look in Scotland's Northern Division—1”, in Modern Railways, page 163:

     A drive to exploit the Highlands as a winter sports area, with all the necessary auxiliaries, such as chair lifts in the Cairngorms, shows increasing promise, […] .

   • 2025 June 30, Adrienne Matei, “‘Hey man, I’m so sorry for your loss’: should you use AI to text?”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     Summer “felt betrayed” that a close friend had used AI as “an auxiliary” to talk to her.

2. (nautical) A sailing vessel equipped with an engine.
3. (grammar) Ellipsis of auxiliary verb.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 151:

     The three traditionally recognized Non-modal Auxiliaries are the per-
     fective Auxiliary have, the progressive Auxiliary be, and the passive Auxiliary
     be. Perfective have is so-called because it marks the completion (hence, perfec-
     tion) of an action; it is followed by a VP headed by a perfective -n participle, as
     in:
     (121)    The referee has [_VP shown him the red card]

4. A marching band color guard.

Translations

person or group that acts in an auxiliary manner

Bulgarian: помощник (bg) (pomoštnik) Finnish: avustaja (fi) German: Helfer (de) m, Hilfskraft (de) f Ido: helpanto (io), helpero (io), helpilo (io), helpivo (io) Italian: ausiliare (it) Japanese: 補助者 (ほじょしゃ) Latin: auxiliāris m Maori: whaitaua Ottoman Turkish: یاردمجی (yardımcı), امدادجی (imdâdcı), ناصر (nâsır) Portuguese: auxiliar (pt) Russian: помо́щник (ru) m (pomóščnik), ассисте́нт (ru) m (assistént), подсо́бник (ru) m (podsóbnik) Spanish: auxiliar (es) m or f, ayudante (es) m or f Turkish: yardımcı (tr)

sailing vessel equipped with an engine

Dutch: zeilboot met hulpmotor (nl) Japanese: 補助艦艇 (ほじょかんてい) Swedish: auxiliärmaskin c, hjälpmaskin c

auxiliary verb — see auxiliary verb

Derived terms

• Auxie
• auxiliarily
• auxiliarist
• auxiliary bishop
• auxiliary cell
• auxiliary cruiser
• auxiliary ego
• auxiliary language
• auxiliary oiler
• auxiliary power unit
• auxiliary storage
• auxlang
• electroauxiliary
• international auxiliary language
• ladies' auxiliary
• modal auxiliary
• nonauxiliary
• nurse auxiliary
• perfect auxiliary
• semiauxiliary

Related terms

• auction
• auctioneer
• augment
• augmentation

See also

• axillary

Further reading

• “auxiliary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “auxiliary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “auxiliary”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.