ache
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: aches
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: aching
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: ached
pos: verb
tags: past
form: oke
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
past
form: ached
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: oke
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
participle
past
form: aken
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
participle
past
form: ake
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: aches
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: ake
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
stative
examples: 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.
gloss: To cause someone or something to suffer pain.
pos: verb
tags: literary
rare
transitive
gloss: Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: Emotional suffering causing discomfort and physical pain.
pos: noun
Related words: hurt
Derived words: ache for
achage
acheful
acheless
achelike
acher
aches and pains
achesome
achy
assache
backache
ballache
ball ache
bellyache
boneache
dickache
earache
eyeache
faceache
face-ache
fingerache
headache
heartache
hot ache
knee ache
neckache
psychache
pussyache
sideache
soulache
stomachache
tailache
teethache
throatache
toothache
tummyache
tummy ache
unache
Translations: