ache

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive, stative) To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
2. (literary, rare, transitive) To cause someone or something to suffer pain.

Noun

Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.

Noun

Parsley.

Noun

Rare spelling of aitch.

Opposite of

pang, throe, trouble

Synonyms

pain

hurt

sore

soreness

throb

distress

yearn

smart

suffer

be painful

painful

illness

be sore

long for

sickness

feel pain

aching

ill

🤢

suffering

long

grief

discomfort

agony

pine

languish

be in pain

ache for

have pain

feel painful

be pained

aspire

wound

vexation

yen

💴

twinge

hanker

undergo

burn

sick

🤢

mal

misery

sting

endeavour

effort

drive

dragoon

bitter

distressed

attempt

inconvenience

Translations

dolore

dolor

douleur

Schmerz

pijn

doler

πόνος

ağrı

dolere

dolor

faire mal

acı

schmerzen

mal

doer

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈeɪk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: aken

Inherited from Old English: acan

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: eeke

Cognate with Low German: aken

Cognate with Northern Frisian: akelig

Cognate with Western Frisian: aaklik

Cognate with Dutch: akelig

In summary

From Middle English aken (verb), and ache (noun), from Old English acan (verb) (from Proto-West Germanic *akan, from Proto-Germanic *akaną (“to ache”)) and æċe (noun) (from Proto-West Germanic *aki, from Proto-Germanic *akiz), both from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eg- (“sin, crime”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian eeke, ääke (“to ache, fester”), Low German aken, achen, äken (“to hurt, ache”), German Low German Eek (“inflammation”), North Frisian akelig, æklig (“terrible, miserable, sharp, intense”), West Frisian aaklik (“nasty, horrible, dismal, dreary”), Dutch akelig (“nasty, horrible”).
The verb was originally strong, conjugating for tense like take (e.g. I ake, I oke, I have aken), but gradually became weak during Middle English; the noun was originally pronounced as /eɪt͡ʃ/ as spelled (compare breach, from break). Historically the verb was spelled ake, and the noun ache (even after the form /eɪk/ started to become common for the noun; compare again break which is now also a noun). The verb came to be spelled like the noun when lexicographer Samuel Johnson mistakenly assumed that it derived from Ancient Greek ἄχος (ákhos, “pain”) due to the similarity in form and meaning of the two words.