Pain

How to spell pain

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce pain

What does pain mean?

1. nounPhysical hurt or emotional distress caused by injury, illness, or sorrow.
2. verbTo cause someone physical or emotional suffering.

Pain in a sentence

• noun

  The sharp pain in his knee returned after the long run.

• verb

  It would pain her greatly to sell the family home.

• noun

  She took a stronger tablet to ease the pain in her back.

• verb

  The swollen joint began to pain him whenever he stood up.

Where does pain come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travelled into English from the Latin poena, which literally meant 'penalty' or 'punishment', and which itself was borrowed from the Greek poine, meaning 'penalty' or 'blood-money paid for a killing'. In late Latin and then Old French the sense softened from formal punishment toward the suffering and torment that punishment caused, and Old French peine carried both ideas. English took it on in the 1200s, at first meaning a penalty or hardship, as preserved in the old phrase 'on pain of death'. From there it shifted to its modern everyday meaning of physical hurt or mental distress. The same poena root still surfaces in 'penalty', 'penal', and 'subpoena', and the word is a perfect homophone of 'pane', the sheet of glass, so the trap is choosing the right one rather than the spelling itself.

How the word is built

• pain (from Latin poena: penalty, punishment)

Words that sound like pain

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• pane: A single sheet of glass set within a frame, especially in a window or door.