ail
pronunciation
How to pronounce ail in British English:
UK [eɪl]
How to pronounce ail in American English:
US [eɪl]
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- Noun:
- aromatic bulb used as seasoning
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- Verb:
- be unwell, ill, or ill disposed
- cause bodily suffering to
Word Origin
- ail
- ail: [OE] Now virtually obsolete except in the metaphorical use of its present participial adjective ailing, ail is of long but uncertain history. The Old English verb egl(i)an came from the adjective egle ‘troublesome’, which had related forms in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German egelen ‘annoy’ and Gothic agls ‘disgraceful’, aglo ‘oppression’. The derivative ailment did not appear until as late as the 18th century.
- ail (v.)
- c. 1300, from Old English eglan "to trouble, plague, afflict," from Proto-Germanic *azljaz (cognates: Old English egle "hideous, loathsome, troublesome, painful;" Gothic agls "shameful, disgraceful," agliþa "distress, affliction, hardship," us-agljan "to oppress, afflict"), from PIE *agh-lo-, suffixed form of root *agh- (1) "to be depressed, be afraid." Related: Ailed; ailing; ails. It is remarkable, that this word is never used but with some indefinite term, or the word no thing; as What ails him? ... Thus we never say, a fever ails him. [Johnson]
Example
- 1. I had them ail fired .
- 2. Ail cash bonus shall be subject to income tax .
- 3. These discrepancies influence what is likely to ail you .
- 4. I devoted ail my energies to studying english .
- 5. I tried but I couldn 't get ail the books in the box .