ache

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
9
Words With Friends
9
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/ˈeɪk/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈeɪk/ · /eɪt͡ʃ/ · /ˈeɪt͡ʃ/

Definition of ache

7 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  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.”
    “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.”
    “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, […]”
    “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.”
See all 7 definitions

verb

  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.”
    “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.”
    “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, […]”
    “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. (literary, rare, transitive)To cause someone or something to suffer pain.

noun

  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.”
    “Fill all thy bones with aches.”
  2. (historical, obsolete)Parsley.
  3. (alt-of, rare)Rare spelling of aitch.
  4. (abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable)Abbreviation of acetylcholinesterase.
    “Coordinate term: BuChE”

name

  1. A language spoken by the Yi people of South-Western China.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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…

See full etymology

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). 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.

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