ace

See also: Ace, ACE, aĉe, ače, -ace, and -acé

English

WOTD – 27 November 2014

Pronunciation

• enPR: ās, IPA^(key): /eɪs/
• Rhymes: -eɪs

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

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Etymology 1

From Middle English as, from Old French as, from Latin as, assis (“unity, copper coin, the unit of coinage”). Compare as

Noun

ace (plural aces)

1. (card games, dice games) A single point or spot on a playing card or die.
2. (card games, dice games) A card or die face so marked.

   I have the ace of diamonds.

3. A very small quantity or degree; a particle; an atom; a jot.
   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar:

     I'll not wag an ace further: the whole world shall not bribe me to it

   • c. 1658 Dr. Henry More, Government of the Tongue :

     He will not bate an ace of absolute certainty.

4. (tennis) A serve won without the opponent hitting the ball.
5. (sports) A single point won by a stroke, as in handball, rackets, etc.
6. (US) (baseball) The best pitcher on the team.
7. (US) (baseball, dated, 19th century) A run.
8. (US) (golf, disc golf) A hole in one.
9. An expert at something.
   • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Mexican ace Dos Santos smashed home the third five minutes later after good work from Defoe.

10. A military aircraft pilot who is credited with shooting down many enemy aircraft, typically five or more.
11. (US) A perfect score on a school exam.
12. (physics, obsolete) A quark.

Usage notes

• Used as an exclamation to mean "excellent". But see ace (adjective). Also in plural: aces.

Synonyms

• (single point or spot): pip

Derived terms

• ace in the hole
• ace of aces
• ace up one's sleeve
• aces and eights
• air ace
• bate an ace (see bate)

• be aces with
• easy aces
• flying ace
• fighter ace
• jet ace
• panzer ace

• return ace
• submarine ace / ace of the deep
• tank ace / tanker ace
• U-boat ace
• within an ace of

Descendants

• → Japanese: エース (ēsu)
• → Korean: 에이스 (eiseu)
• → Russian: эйс (ejs)
• → Swedish: ess
• (?) → Finnish: ässä

Translations

single point or spot on a card or die

• Bulgarian: едно (bg) (edno), единица (bg) f (ediníca)
• Catalan: as (ca) m
• Finnish: merkki (fi) (on a playing card), piste (fi) (on a die)
• French: as (fr) m
• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)
• Hungarian: egy (hu)
• Icelandic: ás (is) m

• Polish: as (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: ás (pt) m
• Romanian: as (ro) m
• Russian: едини́ца (ru) f (jediníca)
• Spanish: as (es) m
• Telugu: ఆసు (te) (āsu)

card with a single spot

• Albanian: as
• Arabic: آس‎ (ar) m (ʾās)
• Armenian: մեկնոց (hy) (meknocʿ), աս (hy) (as), տուզ (hy) (tuz)
• Asturian: as (ast) m
• Belarusian: панфіль m (panfil)
• Bulgarian: а́со (áso), туз m (tuz)
• Catalan: as (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 煙士, 烟士 (jin¹ si^6-2), 煙, 烟 (jin¹)

  Mandarin: 尖兒 (zh), 尖儿 (zh) (jiānr)

• Czech: eso (cs) n
• Danish: es (da) c
• Dutch: aas (nl) m
• Esperanto: aso
• Faroese: ess n
• Finnish: ässä (fi)
• French: as (fr) m
• Galician: ás m
• Georgian: ტუზი (ṭuzi)
• German: Ass (de) n
• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)
• Hausa: sarki (ha)
• Hebrew: אס‎ m
• Hungarian: ász (hu)
• Icelandic: ás (is) m
• Italian: asso (it) m
• Japanese: エース (ja) (ēsu)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاس‎ (ku) (as)

• Lithuanian: tūzas m
• Luxembourgish: Äss m
• Malay: sat
• Maltese: ass
• Maori: hai
• Mongolian: тамга (mn) (tamga)
• Navajo: áás
• Norman: as m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ess (no) m

  Nynorsk: ess m or n

• Ojibwe: bezhigobii'igan
• Persian: آس‎ (fa) (âs)
• Polish: as (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: ás (pt) m
• Romanian: as (ro) m
• Russian: туз (ru) m (tuz)
• Scottish Gaelic: aon m
• Spanish: as (es) m
• Swahili: ree
• Swedish: ess (sv) n, äss (sv) n
• Tagalog: alas (tl)
• Telugu: ఆసు (te) (āsu)
• Tibetan: ཨེ་ཀ (e ka)
• West Frisian: aas

die face with a single spot

• Catalan: as (ca) m
• Finnish: ykkönen (fi)
• French: as (fr) m
• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)

• Icelandic: ás (is) m
• Polish: as (pl) m anim
• Swedish: etta (sv) c

very small quantity or degree

• Arabic: ذَرَّة‎ f (ḏarra)
• Finnish: rahtu (fi), hitunen (fi), tippa (fi)
• French: iota (fr) m, chouïa (fr) m

• Romanian: iotă (ro) f
• Russian: йо́та (ru) f (jóta)

tennis: point scored without the opponent hitting the ball

• Catalan: punt directe (ca) m
• Czech: eso (cs) n
• Finnish: ässä (fi), läpisyöttö
• French: ace (fr) m
• German: Ass (de) n
• Hebrew: אס‎ m
• Hungarian: ász (hu)
• Japanese: エース (ja) (ēsu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ess (no) m

  Nynorsk: ess m or n

• Polish: as (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: ace (pt) m
• Romanian: as (ro) m
• Russian: эйс (ru) m (ejs)
• Spanish: ace (es) m
• Swedish: äss (sv) n, serveäss (sv) n

baseball: best pitcher on the team

• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can

• Spanish: pitcher experto m, lanzador experto m

golf: hole in one — see hole in one

expert

• Bulgarian: ас m (as)
• Catalan: (sports) as (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 高手 (zh) (gāoshǒu)

• Czech: eso (cs) n
• Finnish: ässä (fi)
• French: as (fr) m
• German: Ass (de) n
• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)
• Hungarian: ász (hu)
• Italian: asso (it) m

• Japanese: エース (ja) (ēsu), 高手 (kōte)
• Lithuanian: asas (lt) m, asė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Ass m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ess (no) n

  Nynorsk: ess m or n

• Portuguese: ás (pt) m
• Russian: ас (ru) m (as)
• Spanish: es (es) m
• Swedish: äss (sv) n

excellent military aircraft pilot

• Czech: eso (cs) n
• Finnish: ässä (fi), hävittäjä-ässä
• French: as (fr) m
• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)
• Hungarian: ász (hu)
• Irish: cíoná (eitleora) m

• Persian: تک‌خال‎ (tak-xâl)
• Polish: as (pl) m pers
• Portuguese: ás (pt) m
• Romanian: as (ro) m
• Spanish: as (es) m

perfect score on a school exam

• Finnish: kymppi (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: utama / bintang / unggulan (1), as / kartu as (2)
• Interlingua: asse (1, 2)

• Mandarin:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 王牌 (zh) (wángpái) (ace, king, trump - all three meanings?)

Verb

ace (third-person singular simple present aces, present participle acing, simple past and past participle aced)

1. (US) To pass (a test, interviews etc.) perfectly.
2. (tennis) To win a point by an ace.
3. (golf) To make an ace (hole in one).

Synonyms

• (to pass a test): pass with flying colours

Derived terms

• ace it
• ace out

Translations

to pass a test perfectly

• Finnish: läpäistä kirkkaasti

• Portuguese: gabaritar (pt)

to win a point by an ace

to make an ace (hole in one)

Adjective

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

1. (Britain, slang) Excellent.

Usage notes

• Used as exclamation. Also see ace (noun) above and aces.

Synonyms

• excellent
• first-rate
• outstanding

Translations

excellent

• Armenian: թույն (hy) (tʿuyn), դզող (dzoł)
• Dutch: puik (nl)

• Finnish: huippu- (fi)

See also

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
ace	deuce, two	three	four	five	six	seven
eight	nine	ten	jack, knave	queen	king	joker

Etymology 2

From asexual by shortening.

Adjective

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

1. (slang) Asexual. (not experiencing sexual attraction)
   • 2009, Anneli Rufus, "Asexuals at the Pride Parade", Psychology Today, 22 June 2009:

     "Some people who identify as ace fall under the GLBT umbrella while many others do not. Members of the queer movement have reached out to asexuals to include them in their community. The acronym for this has now become GLBTQA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and asexual)."

   • 2010, Amy Ebersole, "Asexuality, not to be confused with celibacy", The Daily Aztec (San Diego State University), 25 January 2010:

     “I was 14 when I first realized I had no interest in sex,” Jed Strohm, a happily satisfied, romantic asexual from upstate New York, said. “I identified as ace (asexual) and the group leader said I was too attractive.”

   • 2013, Andrea Garcia-Vargas, "Ourselves, our sex, our choices", The Eye, 28 March 2013:

     “If you identify as ace [asexual] and you just don’t feel like having sex, then for me, sex-positive means, ‘That’s great! It’s fantastic you don’t want to have sex!’” says McGown.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:ace.

Synonyms

• asexy (slang)

Derived terms

• acephobia

Noun

ace (plural aces)

1. (slang) A person who is asexual.
   • 2012, Tasmin Prichard, "Freedom from Desire: Some Notes on Asexuality", Salient (Victoria University of Wellington), 23 July 2012, page 20:

     Asexuals are programmed differently, like anybody else on the LGBTQXYZ spectrum, but difference is cool! Difference is perhaps the best part of being queer. Own it, aces!

   • 2013, Leigh Miller, "(A)Sexual Healing", Jerk (Syracuse University), Volume XII, Issue V, April 2013, page 23:

     Negativity toward asexuality can make emerging aces fear that something is wrong with them.

   • 2014, Emma Ianni, "New Group to Bring Awareness Of C. U. Asexual Community", The Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell University), Volume 130, Number 81, 4 February 2014, page 1:

     G. F. said she came up with the idea of creating an asexual group last semester, when she was struggling with the way being an ace was affecting her personal life.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:ace.

See also

• (aromantic): aro

Anagrams

• AEC, CAE, CEA, Cea, EAC

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs/, /ɛjs/

Noun

ace m (plural aces)

1. (tennis) ace

Further reading

• “ace” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Latin

Verb

acē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of aceō

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Portuguese

Noun

ace m (plural aces)

1. (tennis) ace (tennis: point scored without the opponent hitting the ball)

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Romanian

Noun

ace

1. plural of ac

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Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [es]
• (Mid Northern) IPA^(key): [is]

Noun

ace (plural aces)

1. The smallest possible amount of something.
2. The best of a class of things.

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

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Spanish

Noun

ace m (plural aces)

1. (tennis) ace (point scored without the opponent hitting the ball)