carer

British  

/ ˈkɛərə /

noun

1. Usual US and Canadian term: caregiver.  social welfare a person who has accepted responsibility for looking after a vulnerable neighbour or relative See also caretaker

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Explanation

A carer is someone who tends to a patient or looks after a young child or elderly person. If your grandfather is very ill, he may need the help of a carer at home. A carer, also called a caregiver, is sometimes a paid helper whose job is caring for people, like a home health aide or a babysitter. Often family members act as carers, tending to elderly or ailing relatives. If your uncle helps your grandfather get into his wheelchair and take his medicine each day, he's a carer. This word is from care and its Old English root, which means both "feel concern" and "grieve."

Example Sentences

Laura works 12-hour weekend night shifts as a carer in a nursing home and her husband is also in employment but, she says, the family struggles to make ends meet.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

Donall, who is also autistic and has obsessive compulsive disorder, currently has a carer come in for an hour each day to get him up and dressed.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

"Higher prices would definitely make it harder for me, because as a carer, I only make so much a month. It's not a huge amount," she says.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

As a full-time carer to her husband, and a four-time stroke survivor herself, the event "is so worth" the nearly four-hour drive and overnight stay in York, she said.

From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026

She already had a carer assigned to her at the time, and I remember it taking a bit of nerve on my part.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro