ache

English

Alternative forms

• ake (rare)

Etymology 1

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

• enPR: āk, IPA^(key): /ˈeɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk

Verb

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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 13:

     By'r lakin, I can goe no further, Sir, / My old bones akes: here's a maze trod indeede / Through fourth rights, & Meanders: / by your patience, I needes muſt reſt me.

   • 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

• ache for

Translations

Noun

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

Translations

See also

• hurt

References

• Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition.

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: āch, IPA^(key): /eɪt͡ʃ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtʃ

Noun

ache (plural aches)

2. (obsolete or historical) Parsley.

Derived terms

• lovage (by folk etymology)
• smallage

Etymology 3

Representing the pronunciation of the letter H.

Pronunciation

• enPR: āch, IPA^(key): /ˈeɪt͡ʃ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtʃ

Noun

ache (plural aches)

1. Rare spelling of aitch.

Anagrams

• Aceh, Chae, Chea, HACE, each, hace

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʃ/
• Rhymes: -aʃ
• Homophones: hache, haches

Etymology 1

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

Noun

ache f (plural aches)

1. celery (plant)

Etymology 2

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

ache m (plural aches)

1. aitch, The name of the Latin-script letter H.

Descendants

• → Persian: هاش
• → Romanian: haș
• → Russian: аш (aš)
• → Vietnamese: hát

Further reading

• “ache”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Galician

Verb

ache

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

Middle English

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• ake, eche

Pronunciation

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

Noun

ache (plural aches)

2. Aching; long-lasting hurting or injury.

Related terms

• aken
• loveache

Descendants

• English: ache
• Scots: ake

References

• “āche, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-12.

Etymology 2

From Old French ache, from Latin apium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈat͡ʃ(ə)/, /ˈaːt͡ʃ(ə)/

Noun

ache (plural aches)

2. A plant of the genus Apium, especially celery.

Descendants

• English: ache

References

• “āche, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-12.

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ache f (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) wild celery

   Synonym: céléri sauvage

   • 1903, Edgar MacCulloch, “Proverbs, Weather Sayings, etc.”, in Guernsey Folk Lore‎, page 523:

     Vert coume ache.

     As green as smallage.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

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

Verb

ache

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