ail

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
3
Words With Friends
4
Letters
3
Pronunciation
/eɪl/(UK)

Definition of ail

5 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)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.”
    “What aileth thee, Hagar?”
    “Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statue book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?”
See all 5 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)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.”
    “What aileth thee, Hagar?”
    “Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statue book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?”
  2. (intransitive)To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
    “When he ails ever so little […] he is so peevish.”

noun

  1. (obsolete)An ailment; trouble; illness.
  2. (West-Country)The awn of barley or other types of corn.

adj

  1. (obsolete)Painful; troublesome.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English eilen, from Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan, from Proto-Germanic *aglijaną (“to trouble, vex”), cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (agljan, “to distress”).

Anagrams of ail

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2-letter words

3 words

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