different between ache vs distress

English

Alternative forms

• ake (rare)

Etymology 1

From Middle English aken (verb), and ache (noun), from Old English acan (verb) (from Proto-Germanic *akan? (“to be bad, be evil”)) and æ?e (noun) (from Proto-Germanic *akiz), both from Proto-Indo-European *h?eg- (“sin, crime”). Cognate with Low German aken, achen, äken (“to hurt, to ache”), North Frisian akelig, æklig (“terrible, miserable, sharp, intense”), West Frisian aaklik (“nasty, horrible, dismal, dreary”), Dutch akelig (“nasty, horrible”).

The verb was originally strong, conjugating for tense like take (e.g. I ake, I oke, I have aken), but gradually became weak during Middle English; the noun was originally pronounced as /e?t??/ as spelled (compare breach, from break). Historically the verb was spelled ake, and the noun ache (even after the form /e?k/ started to become common for the noun; compare again break which is now also a noun). The verb came to be spelled like the noun when lexicographer Samuel Johnson mistakenly assumed that it derived from Ancient Greek ???? (ákhos, “pain”) due to the similarity in form and meaning of the two words.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?k, IPA^(key): /e?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Verb

ache (third-person singular simple present aches, present participle aching, simple past ached or (obsolete) oke, past participle ached or (obsolete) aken)

1. (intransitive) To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
   • c. 1593, Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene V:

     Fie, how my bones ache!
2. (transitive, literary, rare) To cause someone or something to suffer pain.

Derived terms

• ache for

Translations

Noun

ache (plural aches)

1. Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.
   • c. 1610, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I, Scene II:

     Fill all thy bones with aches.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• hurt

References

• Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition.

Etymology 2

From Middle English ache, from Old French ache, from Latin apium (“celery”). Reinforced by modern French ache.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?ch, IPA^(key): /e?t??/
• Rhymes: -e?t?

Noun

ache (plural aches)

2. (obsolete) parsley

Derived terms

• lovage (by folk etymology)
• smallage

Etymology 3

Representing the pronunciation of the letter H.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?ch, IPA^(key): /e?t??/
• Rhymes: -e?t?

Noun

ache (plural aches)

1. Rare spelling of aitch.

Anagrams

• Aceh, Chae, Chea, HACE, each, hace

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: hache, haches

Etymology 1

From Latin apia, plural of apium (“celery”).

Noun

ache f (plural aches)

1. celery (plant)

Etymology 2

From Middle French ache, from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca, probably an extension of earlier ha, from an unindentified source. Compare Italian acca.

Noun

ache m (plural aches)

1. aitch, The name of the Latin-script letter H.

Descendants

• ? Persian: ????
• ? Romanian: ha?
• ? Russian: ?? (aš)
• ? Vietnamese: hát

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English e?e, ace, æ?e, from Proto-Germanic *akiz. Some forms are remodelled on aken.

Alternative forms

• ake, eche

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?k(?)/, /?a?t?(?)/, /?at?(?)/, /???t?(?)/, /??t?(?)/

Noun

ache (plural aches)

2. Aching; long-lasting hurting or injury.

Related terms

• aken

Descendants

• English: ache
• Scots: ake
• Yola: aake

References

• “?che, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-12.

Etymology 2

From Old French ache, from Latin apium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?at?(?)/, /?a?t?(?)/

Noun

ache (plural aches)

2. A plant of the genus Apium, especially celery.

Descendants

• English: ache

References

• “?che, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-12.

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ache f (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) wild celery

   Synonym: céléri sauvage

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: a?che

Verb

ache

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of achar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of achar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of achar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of achar

English

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiare, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringere (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringere (“to draw tight, strain”).

The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

distress (countable and uncountable, plural distresses)

1. (Cause of) discomfort.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:distress.
2. Serious danger.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:distress.
3. (medicine) An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
4. (law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
5. (law) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.

   • If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle.

   • The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.

Derived terms

• distress signal

Antonyms

• (maladaptive stress): eustress

Related terms

• distrain
• district

Translations

Verb

distress (third-person singular simple present distresses, present participle distressing, simple past and past participle distressed)

1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.

   Synonyms: anguish, harrow, trouble, vex, torment, tantalize, tantalise, martyr
2. (law) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.

   Synonym: distrain
3. To treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.

   Synonyms: age, antique, patinate

Translations

Further reading

• distress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• distress in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• distress at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• disserts