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According to Grammarist,

An aide is an assistant or helper. The word always refers to a person.

So is for example the following use of aide wrong/non-standard?

Clarity and simplicity as aides to theory testing and replication (Gunitsky, 2019).

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Yes, this use of "aide" is incorrect. Merriam-Webster agrees that an "aide" is always a person; I suspect that in the above sentence it's just a typo for "aid."

Ngram Viewer confirms that, as an example, "aid to understanding" is extremely common, whereas "aide to understanding" is almost never found.

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  • Isn't that use metaphorical rather than literal? "Aides" could be replaced by "assistants" or "helpers" for example and the only difference would be that the noun could not be regarded as a typo.
    – BoldBen
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 6:43
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    The spelling with an 'e' comes from the military expression aide-de-camp which is borrowed from the French.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 10:17
  • Aide when referring to a person is a more specific role than just referring to a general helper - you wouldn't use it e.g. for a nurse or care assistant. As Kate Bunting says above, it is originally military, but now particularly used in politics for assistants to a politician.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 10:31
  • It does seem a common error though - Merriam-Webster quotes USA Today: "The bill's wide reach spans from a TikTok ban on government devices to additional aide for Ukraine in its effort to beat back Russia's invasion."
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 15:17
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    @StuartF — Merriam-Webster adds a disclaimer: These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aide.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 15:26

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