Wiktionary

ache

See also: Ache and AChE

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English aken (verb), and ache (noun), from Old English acan (verb) (from Proto-West Germanic *akan, from Proto-Germanic *akaną (“to be bad, be evil”)) 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.

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: āk, IPA(key): /ˈeɪk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪk

Verb

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ache (third-person singular simple present aches, present participle aching, simple past ached or (obsolete) oke, past participle ached or (obsolete) aken)

  1. (intransitive, stative) To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
    My feet were aching for days after the marathon.
    Every muscle in his body ached.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 13:
      By'r lakin, I can goe no further, Sir, / My old bones akes:[sic] here's a maze trod indeede / Through fourth rights, & Meanders: / by your patience, I needes muſt reſt me.
    • 1766, James Beattie, “[Miscellany Poems.] The Wolf and Shepherds, a Fable.”, in Poems on Several Subjects. […], new edition, London: […] W. Johnston, […], →OCLC, stanza 3, pages 113–114:
      And that thing made of ſound and ſhovv / VVhich mortals have miſnamed A Beau, / (But in the language of the ſky / Is call'd a tvvolegg'd butterfly) / VVill make your very heartſtrings ake / VVith loud and everlaſting clack, […]
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
  2. (transitive, literary, rare) To cause someone or something to suffer pain.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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ache (plural aches)

  1. Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.
    You may suffer a minor ache in your side.
    The aches and pains died down after taking an analgesic.
    • c. 1610, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I, Scene II:
      Fill all thy bones with aches.
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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References

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  • Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition.

Etymology 2

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From Middle English ache, from Old French ache, from Latin apium (“celery”). Reinforced by modern French ache.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ache (plural aches)

  2. (obsolete or historical) Parsley.
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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Representing the pronunciation of the letter H.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ache (plural aches)

  1. Rare spelling of aitch.

Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Latin apia, plural of apium (“celery”).

Noun

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ache f (plural aches)

  1. celery (plant)

Etymology 2

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Inherited from Middle French ache, from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca, probably an extension of earlier ha, from an unindentified source. Compare Italian acca.

Noun

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ache m (plural aches)

  1. aitch, The name of the Latin-script letter H/h.
Descendants
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  • → Persian: هاش
  • → Romanian: haș
  • → Russian: аш (aš)
  • → Vietnamese: hát

Further reading

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Galician

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Verb

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ache

  1. inflection of achar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English eċe, ace, æċe, from Proto-West Germanic *aki, from Proto-Germanic *akiz. Some forms are remodelled on aken.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈaːk(ə)/, /ˈaːt͡ʃ(ə)/, /ˈat͡ʃ(ə)/, /ˈɛːt͡ʃ(ə)/, /ˈɛt͡ʃ(ə)/

Noun

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ache (plural aches)

  2. Aching; long-lasting hurting or injury.
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Descendants
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References
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Etymology 2

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From Old French ache, from Latin apium.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈat͡ʃ(ə)/, /ˈaːt͡ʃ(ə)/

Noun

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ache (plural aches)

  2. A plant of the genus Apium, especially celery.
Descendants
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References
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Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French ache, from Latin apium (“parsley, celery”).

Noun

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ache f (uncountable)

  1. (Jersey) wild celery
    Synonym: céléri sauvage
    • 1903, Edgar MacCulloch, “Proverbs, Weather Sayings, etc.”, in Guernsey Folk Lore‎[1], page 523:
      Vert coume ache.
      As green as smallage.

Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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  • Rhymes: (Brazil) -aʃi, (Portugal) -aʃɨ
  • Hyphenation: a‧che

Verb

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ache

  1. inflection of achar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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