Ail Definition

āl
ailing, ails, ailer, ailest
verb
ailing, ails
To feel ill or have pain.
Has been ailing for weeks.
American Heritage
To be the cause of pain or distress to; trouble.
Webster's New World
To be in poor health, esp. over a period of time.
Webster's New World
To cause physical or mental pain or uneasiness to; trouble.
American Heritage

To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)

Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.
Wiktionary
adjective
ailer, ailest

(obsolete) Painful; troublesome.

Wiktionary
noun
Wiktionary

The awn of barley or other types of corn.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Ail

Noun

Singular:
ail
Plural:
ails

Adjective

Base Form:
ail
Comparative:
ailer
Superlative:
ailest

Origin of Ail

  • From Middle English eyle, eile, from Old English eġle (“hideous, loathsome, hateful, horrid, troublesome, grievous, painful”), from Proto-Germanic *agluz (“cumbersome, tedious, burdensome, tiresome”), from Proto-Indo-European *agʰlo-, *agʰ- (“offensive, disgusting, repulsive, hateful”). Cognate with Gothic (aglus, “hard, difficult”).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), cognate with Gothic (agljan, “to distress”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English eilen from Old English eglian from egle troublesome

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old English eġl.

    From Wiktionary

Ail Is Also Mentioned In

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