ache

• ake (rare)

From Middle English aken (verb), and ache (noun), from Old English acan (verb) (from Proto-Germanic *akaną (“to be bad, be evil”)) and æċe (noun) (from Proto-Germanic *akiz), both from Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“sin, crime”). Cognate with Low German aken, achen, äken (“to hurt, to ache”), North Frisian akelig, æklig (“terrible, miserable, sharp, intense”), West Frisian aaklik (“nasty, horrible, dismal, dreary”), Dutch akelig (“nasty, horrible”). The noun was originally pronounced as spelled, with a palatized ch sound (compare batch, from bake); 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. Historically the verb was spelled ake, and the noun ache. The verb came to be spelled like the noun when lexicographist 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.

• enPR: āk, IPA^(key): /eɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk

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

1. (intransitive) To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
   • c. 1593, Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene V:

     Fie, how my bones ache!

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

• ache for

ache (plural aches)

1. Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.
   • c. 1610, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I, Scene II:

     Fill all thy bones with aches.

• hurt

• Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition.

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

• enPR: āch, IPA^(key): /eɪt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -eɪt͡ʃ

ache (plural aches)

1. (obsolete) parsley

• smallage

Representing the pronunciation of the letter H.

ache (plural aches)

1. Rare spelling of aitch.

• Aceh, Chae, Chea, HACE, each

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

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

ache f (plural aches)

1. celery (plant)

ache m (plural aches)

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

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

• ake, eche

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːk(ə)/, /ˈaːtʃ(ə)/, /ˈatʃ(ə)/, /ˈɛːtʃ(ə)/, /ˈɛtʃ(ə)/

ache (plural aches)

1. Aching; long-lasting hurting or injury.

• aken

• English: ache
• Scots: ake

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

From Old French ache, from Latin apium.

• IPA^(key): /ˈatʃ(ə)/, /ˈaːtʃ(ə)/

ache (plural aches)

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

• English: ache

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

ache f (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) wild celery

   Synonym: céléri sauvage

• Hyphenation: a‧che

ache

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of achar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of achar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of achar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of achar