ail

1 of 2

verb

ˈāl 

ailed; ailing; ails

transitive verb

: to give physical or emotional pain, discomfort, or trouble to

His back has been ailing him.

It's good for what ails you.

What's ailing you?

intransitive verb

: to have something the matter

an ailing economy

especially : to suffer ill health

She has been ailing for years.

ail

2 of 2

noun

: ailment

winter ails

Synonyms

Verb

• bother
• alarm
• disturb
• concern
• worry
• distract
• anger
• plague
• distress
• agitate
• unsettle
• annoy

Noun

• disease
• ailment
• illness
• ill
• condition
• fever
• sickness

Examples of ail in a Sentence

Noun

half of the staff is out sick with the usual wintertime ails

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

In 1987, The New York Times reported that Elton John had undergone throat surgery, and at the time, there was much speculation about what was ailing the star. —Andrea Wurzburger, People.com, 27 June 2025

Kim has been pushing to make the country a tourism hub as part of efforts to revive the ailing economy, with KCNA reporting that North Korea will soon confirm plans to build large tourist sites in other parts of the country. —Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2025

Noun

What ails solar is a dearth of revolutionary innovations—either present or in the pipeline—that would make solar generation, distribution, and storage far less expensive and far more compatible with the existing grid. —IEEE Spectrum, 27 June 2012

Instead, director Patrick Marber’s revival comes to Broadway at a time when these social ails have calcified and the art of the deal determines executive orders. —Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English eilen, eilien "to trouble, afflict, affect (with animate or inanimate agent), be troubled, affected," going back to Old English eglan, eglian "to torment, afflict (with animate or inanimate agent)," going back to Germanic *agljan- (whence also Norwegian egle "to bait, goad, heckle," Danish dialect [Jutland] egle "to goad," [Bornholm] ägla "to scold," Gothic agljan, translating Greek bláptein "to harm, hurt"), of uncertain origin

Note: The Germanic etymon has been compared with an assortment of words inside and outside Germanic, most immediately and unarguably with Old English egle "grievous, painful, loathsome, horrible," Gothic agls, attested only as neuter singular agl, translating Greek aischrós "causing shame, disgraceful," and Gothic aglo, translating Greek thlípsis "tribulation." These have been compared further with Sanskrit agháḥ "evil, bad," Avestan aγa-, and Greek áchnymai, achnýnai "to grieve, lament," áchos "pain, distress." All these have been taken as progeny of an Indo-European base *h₂eg^h-, hypothetically "distress, fear," connected further with Old English ege "fear, terror," Gothic agis, Old Norse agi (see awe entry 1). However, the semantic link between the basic Germanic set (exemplified by Old English eglan and egle) and the other words is tenuous.

Noun

Middle English eil "harm, trouble," perhaps in part going back to an Old English noun *ægl, *ægle, n-stem noun cognate with Gothic aglo "tribulation," derivative of a Germanic adjective agla-, whence Old English egle "grievous, painful"; in part noun derivative of Middle English eilen "to trouble, afflict" and eile "harmful, grievous" (continuing Old English egle) — more at ail entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ail

• ale
• bail
• baile
• dail
• fail
• flail
• frail
• gael
• gail
• grail
• hail
• jail

Kids Definition

ail

verb

ˈāl

1

: to be the matter with : trouble

what ails you?

2

: to have something the matter

especially : to suffer ill health

has been ailing for years

Medical Definition

ail

transitive verb

ˈā(ə)l 

: to affect with a disease or physical or emotional pain or discomfort

what ails the patient

intransitive verb

: to become affected with pain or discomfort : to suffer ill health

was ailing from a cold