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heartache. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
heartache, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
heartache in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
heartache you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English heorteece, heorte-ece, from Old English heorteċe, equivalent to heart + ache. Blends both literal and figurative aspects, as emotional distress sometimes includes a physical element of chest discomfort. Compare heartbreak § Etymology, whose literal aspect is lesser although not quite zero.
Pronunciation
Noun
heartache (countable and uncountable, plural heartaches)
- Very sincere and difficult emotional problems or stress.
c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 265: […]: to dye, to ſleepe, / No more; and by a ſleepe, to ſay we end / The Heart-ake, and the thouſand Naturall ſhockes / That Fleſh is heyre too?
1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Mansfield Park: , volume I, London: T Egerton, , →OCLC, page 94:“Well done, sister! I honour your esprit du corps. When I am a wife, I mean to be just as staunch myself; and I wish my friends in general would be so too. It would save me many a heart ache.”
1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XL, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., , →OCLC:She was carrying an armful of Bibles for her class, and such was her view of life that events which produced heartache in others wrought beatific smiles upon her—an enviable result, although, in the opinion of Angel, it was obtained by a curiously unnatural sacrifice of humanity to mysticism.
Related terms
Translations
very sincere and difficult emotional problems or stress
- Bulgarian: мъка (bg) f (mǎka), душевна болка f (duševna bolka)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 心痛 (zh) (xīntòng)
- Dutch: hartzeer (nl) n
- Esperanto: korpremo
- Finnish: sydänsuru (fi), murhe (fi), sydänhaava
- French: chagrin d’amour (fr) m, peine de cœur (fr) f
- German: Herzenskummer (de) m
- Indonesian: pedih hati (id)
- Irish: croíbhriseadh m, crá croí m
- Japanese: 心痛 (ja) (しんつう, shintsū)
- Latin: cordolium n
- Macedonian: карасевда f (karasevda)
- Malay: pedih hati
- Maori: tūmatatenga, ahotea, auhi, huamo, pākikini, mate kanehe
- Old English: heorteċe m
- Russian: душе́вная боль f (dušévnaja bolʹ), страда́ние (ru) n (stradánije)
- Scots: hertake
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: срцобоља
- Roman: srcobolja
- Spanish: angustia (es) f, pena (es) f
- Swedish: hjärtesorg (sv)
- Thai: ไข้ใจ (th) (kâi-jai), โทมนัส (th)
- Turkish: kâlp ağrısı (tr)
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