Ache

How to spell ache

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce ache

What does ache mean?

1. nounA continuous or prolonged dull pain in part of the body.
2. verbTo suffer a continuous, dull pain.

Ache in a sentence

• noun

  My back has a dull ache.

• verb

  My muscles still ache after the marathon.

• noun

  A familiar ache returned in his shoulder.

• verb

  Her feet ache at the end of a long shift.

Where does ache come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word descends from the Old English verb acan, meaning 'to hurt' or 'to feel a continuous pain', and its related noun ece. For centuries the noun was spelled and pronounced 'atch' (with the soft sound still heard in the related word 'ake'), while the verb kept the hard k sound. The modern spelling with 'ch' is actually a learned mistake: scholars in the 1600s, including the dictionary tradition that Samuel Johnson later followed, wrongly assumed the word came from the Greek 'akhos' meaning pain, so they fitted it with a Greek-looking 'ch'. The pronunciation, however, stayed loyal to the native hard k. That is exactly why 'ache' is a small spelling trap: it sounds like it should end in plain k, yet it carries a silent, etymologically invented 'ch'.

How the word is built

• ache (single root from Old English acan, to hurt; no separable prefix or suffix)