ace

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

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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. A single point or spot on a playing card or die.
2. 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.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden

     I'll not wag an ace further.

   • 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. (US) (baseball) The best pitcher on the team.
6. (US) (baseball, dated, 19th century) A run.
7. (US) (golf) A hole in one.
8. An expert at something.
   • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, BBC Sport:

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

9. A military aircraft pilot who is credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft.
10. (US) A perfect score on a school exam.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• (single point or spot): pip

Coordinate terms

• (playing cards) playing card; ace, deuce, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king, joker

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

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)
• Polish: as (pl) m
• Romanian: as (ro) m
• Russian: единица (ru) f (jediníca)
• Spanish: as (es) m

card with a single spot

• Arabic: آس m ('aas)
• Bulgarian: асо (áso), туз m (tuz)
• Catalan: as (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 尖兒, 尖儿 (zh) (jiānr)

• Czech: eso (cs) n
• Dutch: aas (nl) m
• Esperanto: aso
• Finnish: ässä (fi)
• French: as (fr) m
• German: Ass (de) n
• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)
• Hebrew: אס m
• Hungarian: ász (hu)
• Italian: asso (it) m
• Japanese: エース (ja) (ēsu)
• Jèrriais: as m

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاس (ku)

• Luxembourgish: Äss m
• Malay: sat
• Maltese: ass
• Maori: hai
• Persian: آس (fa) (âs)
• Polish: as (pl) m
• 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
• West Frisian: aas

die face with a single spot

• Catalan: as (ca) m
• French: as (fr) m

• Greek: άσος (el) m (ásos)
• Polish: as (pl) m

very small quantity or degree

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

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

tennis: point scored without the opponent hitting the ball

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

• Polish: as (pl) m
• Portuguese: ace 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)
• Lithuanian: asas (lt) m, asė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Ass m
• 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)
• Polish: as (pl) 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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Mandarin:

  Mandarin: 王牌 (zh) (wángpái) (ace, king, trump - all three meanings?)

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

• Interlingua: asse (1, 2)

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

Adjective

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

1. (UK, slang) Excellent.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• excellent
• first-rate
• outstanding

Translations

excellent

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

• Finnish: huippu- (fi)

Etymology 2

From asexual by shortening.

Adjective

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

1. (slang) Asexual.
   • 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 the citations page.

Synonyms

• asexy (slang)

Noun

ace (plural aces)

1. (slang) A person who identifies as 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 the citations page.

Anagrams

• AEC
• CEA

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪs/

Noun

ace m (plural aces)

1. (tennis) ace

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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)