ail

See also: áil, àil, Äil, -ail, and -áil

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /eɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle English eyle, eile, from Old English eġle ‎(“hideous, loathsome, hateful, horrid, troublesome, grievous, painful”), from Proto-Germanic *agluz ‎(“cumbersome, tedious, burdensome, tiresome”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰlo-, *h₂egʰ- ‎(“offensive, disgusting, repulsive, hateful”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 ‎(aglus, “hard, difficult”).

Adjective

ail ‎(comparative ailer or more ail, superlative ailest or most ail)

1. (obsolete) Painful; troublesome.

Etymology 2

From Old English eġlan, eġlian ‎(“to trouble, afflict”), cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 ‎(agljan, “to distress”).

Verb

ail ‎(third-person singular simple present ails, present participle ailing, simple past and past participle ailed)

1. (transitive) To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)

   Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.

   • Bible, Genesis xxi. 17

     What aileth thee, Hagar?

   • 2011, "Connubial bliss in America", The Economist:

     Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statue book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?

2. (intransitive) To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
   • Richardson

     When he ails ever so little […] he is so peevish.

Quotations

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

Translations

to cause to suffer

• Bulgarian: боли (bg) ‎(boli), безпокои (bg) ‎(bezpokoi)
• Dutch: schelen (nl), mankeren (nl)
• Finnish: vaivata (fi)

• French: manquer (fr), faillir (fr)
• Portuguese: afligir (pt)
• Russian: трево́жить (ru) ‎(trevóžitʹ), беспоко́ить (ru) ‎(bespokóitʹ)
• Spanish: causar dolor a, molestar (es)

to be ill

• Bulgarian: болен съм ‎(bolen sǎm), неразположен съм ‎(nerazpoložen sǎm)
• Dutch: ziek zijn, iets mankeren, sukkelen (nl)
• Finnish: sairastaa (fi)
• French: être malade, souffrir (fr)
• German: kränklich sein

• Greek:

  Ancient: νοσέω ‎(noséō)

• Latvian: sirgt (lv)
• Portuguese: estar doente/aflito
• Russian: боле́ть (ru) ‎(bolétʹ), недомога́ть (ru) ‎(nedomogátʹ)
• Spanish: adolecer (es)

Noun

ail ‎(plural ails)

1. An ailment; trouble; illness.

Translations

An ailment; trouble; illness

• Bulgarian: болка (bg) ‎(bolka), болест (bg) ‎(bolest)
• Finnish: vaiva (fi)

• Latvian: liga (lv) f
• Spanish: enfermedad (es) f

Etymology 3

From Old English eġl.

Noun

ail ‎(plural ails)

1. The awn of barley or other types of corn.

Anagrams

• Ali
• lai, Lai

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Dalmatian

Alternative forms

• alj

Etymology

From Latin allium.

Noun

ail

1. garlic

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French

Etymology

From Latin allium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aj/

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: aïe, aille, ailles, aillent, ails

Noun

ail m ‎(plural ails or aulx)

1. garlic

Derived terms

• alliacé
• ailler

Anagrams

• lai, lia

External links

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

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Irish

Alternative forms

• oil

Etymology

From Old Irish ail ‎(“boulder, rock”), from Proto-Celtic *ɸales-, from Proto-Indo-European *pelis-, *pels- ‎(“stone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alʲ/

Noun

ail f ‎(genitive singular aileach, nominative plural aileacha)

1. stone, rock

Declension

Declension of ail

Fifth declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative ail aileacha Vocative a ail a aileacha Genitive aileach aileacha Dative ail aileacha

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an ail na haileacha Genitive na haileach na n-aileacha Dative leis an ail don ail leis na haileacha

• Archaic plural: ailche

Derived terms

• ail leachta, ail in úir ‎(“headstone, monument”)

Related terms

• aill ‎(“cliff, precipice”)
• ailt ‎(“side of a glen”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
ail	n-ail	hail	t-ail
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*fales-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1, page 120
• "ail" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “1 ail” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “ail” in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 1927, by Patrick S. Dinneen.
• Franz Nikolaus Finck, 1899, Die araner mundart, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, vol. II, 22.

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Norman

Etymology

From Latin allium.

Noun

ail m ‎(uncountable)

1. (Jersey) garlic

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Old Irish

Verb

·ail

1. third-person singular present indicative conjunct of ailid

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
·ail	unchanged	·n-ail
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Welsh

Welsh ordinal numbers

<  1af	2il	3ydd  >
Cardinal : dau     Ordinal : ail     Adverbial : dwywaith     Multiplier : dwbl

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *alyos ‎(“other, second”) (compare Old Irish aile), from Proto-Indo-European *ályos ‎(“other”) (compare Latin alius and Ancient Greek ἄλλος ‎(állos)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ai̯l/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ail ‎(feminine singular ail, plural ail, not comparable)

1. second

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
ail	unchanged	unchanged	hail
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.