ail
/ˈeɪ̯l/
ail verb: to cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.).
Verb
ail (third-person singular simple present ails, present participle ailing, simple past and past participle ailed)
- 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?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 21:17
- To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
- When he ails ever so little […] he is so peevish.1740, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
Noun (1)
ail (plural ails)
Adjective
ail (comparative ailer or more ail, superlative ailest or most ail)
Noun (2)
ail (plural ails)
ail meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
ail in Tamil
- துன்பப்படு, நோவு, தொந்தரவு, தொந்தரவு கொடு, துன்புறுத்து, தொல்லைக்காளாக்கு
ail in Urdu
- بیمار ہونا, دکھی ہونا, تکلیف میں ہونا
ail in Bengali
- অসুস্থ হওয়া
ail in Malayalam
- കുഴക്കുക, നോവുക, സുഖക്കേടു തോന്നുക, അസുഖം ബാധിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- ail in Kannada
- ನರಳು
- ail in Arabic
- عَذَّبَ ʕaḏḏaba
Forms of ail
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | ails |
| present participle | ailing |
| past participle | ailed |
| past | ailed |
| Noun | |
| plural | ails |
| alternative form | ile |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | ailer |
| comparative | more ail |
| superlative | ailest |
| superlative | most ail |
Origin of ail
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”).
Inherited from Middle English eyle, eile, from Old English eġle (“hideous, loathsome, hateful, horrid, troublesome, grievous, painful”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 (aglus, “hard, difficult”).
Inherited from Middle English eile, eyle, eiȝle, from Old English eġl (“an ail; awn; beard of barley; mote”), from Proto-Germanic *agilō (“awn”), related to *ahaz (“ear (of grain)”). Cognate with German Achel, Egel, Ägel.
Words formed from ail
Words that rhyme with ail
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- snail
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- prevail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- flail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- curtail
- drail
- gale
- inhale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
- camail
Questions about ail
- What does ail mean?
- Ail means to cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.).
- What is ail in Tamil?
- Ail in Tamil is துன்பப்படு, நோவு, தொந்தரவு. See Ail meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ail?
- Ail can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce ail?
- Ail is pronounced /ˈeɪ̯l/.
- What is the past tense of ail?
- The past tense of ail is ailed.
Words near ail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ail (page history and authors); ail (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ail (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ail (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ail (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ail (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ail.wav.
Cite this entry: “ail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.