Auxiliary

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Pronunciation: /ɔːɡˈzɪl.(j)ə.ɹi/

Definitions

1. Providing supplementary or additional support to a primary system, person, or function
2. Serving to assist or reinforce a main system or function by providing extra help or resources
3. Offering additional resources or aid that complements the main operation ; referring to personnel or equipment kept ready to support primary forces or systems when needed

Etymology: The Latin "auxilium" meant "help" or "aid," and it grew from "augēre," meaning "to increase." Help, in other words, was imagined as something that adds to what you already have. From it the Romans formed "auxiliāris," "helping," and then "auxiliārius," a noun for an assistant or ally, and it was this later form that passed into English. The word has long been used in a military sense. Roman auxiliaries were non-citizen troops who supported the legions, and English-speaking armies adopted the term for forces that fight alongside a main army. That sense of a secondary force standing beside the primary one carried over into the adjective, which describes things that supplement or back up something else, such as an auxiliary power supply or an auxiliary verb. The noun in its current sense, an extra support worker, is a modern extension of that older idea of a helper who backs up the main force.

Synonyms: supplementary, additional

Antonyms: main, primary