ail

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

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /eɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: ale

Etymology 1

From Middle English eilen, from Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan, from Proto-Germanic *aglijaną (“to trouble, vex”), 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.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 21:17:

     What aileth thee, Hagar?

   • 2011, “Connubial bliss in America”, in 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.
   • 1740, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded:

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

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:ail.

Derived terms

• ailsome

 

Translations

to cause to suffer

• Arabic: عَذَّبَ (ʕaḏḏaba)
• Bulgarian: боли (bg) (boli), безпокои (bg) (bezpokoi)
• Czech: trápit (cs) impf
• Dutch: schelen (nl), mankeren (nl)
• Finnish: vaivata (fi)
• French: manquer (fr), faillir (fr)
• German: weh tun (de), plagen (de)
• Italian: affliggere (it)
• Portuguese: afligir (pt)
• Russian: трево́жить (ru) (trevóžitʹ), беспоко́ить (ru) (bespokóitʹ)
• Slovak: trápiť impf
• Spanish: aquejar (es), afligir (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, leiden (de), krank sein, kränkeln (de)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 (siukan)
• Greek:

  Ancient: νοσέω (noséō)

• Latvian: sirgt (lv)
• Macedonian: боледува (boleduva)
• Portuguese: estar doente/aflito
• Romanian: a boli impf
• Russian: боле́ть (ru) (bolétʹ), недомога́ть (ru) (nedomogátʹ)
• Spanish: padecer (es), adolecer (es)

Noun

ail (plural ails)

1. (obsolete) An ailment; trouble; illness.

Translations

An ailment; trouble; illness

• Bulgarian: болка (bg) (bolka), болест (bg) (bolest)
• Finnish: vaiva (fi)
• German: Krankheit (de) f, Leiden (de) n
• Latvian: liga (lv) f
• Spanish: enfermedad (es) f

Etymology 2

From Middle English eyle, eile, from Old English eġle (“hideous, loathsome, hateful, horrid, troublesome, grievous, painful”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 (aglus, “hard, difficult”).

Adjective

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

1. (obsolete) Painful; troublesome.

Etymology 3

From Middle English eile, eyle, eiȝle, from Old English eġl (“an ail; awn; beard of barley; mote”), from Proto-Germanic *agilō (“awn”), related to *ahaz (“ear (of grain)”). Cognate with German Achel, Egel, Ägel.

Alternative forms

• ile

Noun

ail (plural ails)

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

Anagrams

• -ial, Ali, IAL, LIA, Lai, ali-, lai

Dalmatian

Alternative forms

• alj, agl, aill

Etymology

From Latin allium.

Noun

ail

1. (Vegliot) garlic

References

• Ive, A. (1886) “L'antico dialetto di Veglia [The old dialect of Veglia]”, in G. I. Ascoli, editor, Archivio glottologico italiano [Italian linguistic archive], volume 9, Rome: E. Loescher, pages 115–187

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, 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

• ail des ours
• ail sauvage
• alliacé
• ailler

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: lay (from l’ail)
• Mauritian Creole: lay (from l’ail)
• Moore: lay (from l’ail)

Further reading

• “ail”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• lai, lia

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 or ailche)

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
• ailt

Mutation

Mutated forms of ail

radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
ail	n-ail	hail	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “ail”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 ail”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927) “ail”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society
• Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 22

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

ail

1. Alternative form of ale (“beer”)

Etymology 2

Noun

ail

1. Alternative form of hayle (“hail”)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin allium.

Noun

ail m (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) garlic

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alʲ/

Etymology 1

Possibly from Proto-Celtic *ɸalos, from Proto-Indo-European *pels-, *pelis- (“rock, cliff”), see also German Fels (“rock”).

The declension was not stable at the start of the Old Irish period, with a shift from an i-stem declension to a k-stem declension ongoing.

Noun

ail f (genitive ailech, nominative plural ailich)

1. rock
2. foundation

Inflection

Feminine i-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ail	ailL	ailiH
Vocative	ail	ailL	ailiH
Accusative	ailN	ailL	ailiH
Genitive	aloH, alaH	aloH, alaH	aileN
Dative	ailL	ailib	ailib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Feminine k-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ail	ailichL	ailich
Vocative	ail	ailichL	ailchea
Accusative	ailichN	ailichL	ailchea
Genitive	ailech	ailech	ailechN
Dative	ailichL	ailchib	ailchib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: ail
  • Irish: ail

Mutation

Mutation of ail

radical	lenition	nasalization
ail (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-ail

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Etymology 2

Verb

·ail

1. third-person singular present indicative conjunct of ailid

Mutation

Mutation of ail

radical	lenition	nasalization
·ail (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	·n-ail

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 ail”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English eilen, from Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːl/

Verb

ail (third-person singular simple present ails, present participle ailin, simple past ailt, past participle ailt)

1. to trouble, afflict (of body or mind)
2. to hinder, prevent
3. to be ill

References

• “ail, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Welsh

Welsh numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  → [a], [b]
Cardinal (masculine): dau     Cardinal (feminine): dwy     Ordinal: ail, eilfed     Ordinal abbreviation: 2il, 2fed     Adverbial: dwywaith     Multiplier: dwbl
Welsh Wikipedia article on 2

Alternative forms

• 2il (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle Welsh eil, from Proto-Brythonic *ėl, from Proto-Celtic *alyos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos (“other”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ai̯l/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: ael (“eyebrow”) (South Wales)
• Rhymes: -ai̯l

Adjective

ail (feminine singular ail, plural ail, not comparable) (precedes the noun, triggers soft mutation of all nouns)

1. (ordinal number) second

   Synonym: eilfed

   yr ail lawr ― the second floor

Derived terms

• ail- (“re-”), eil- (“re-”)
• ail isradd (“square root”)
• eiliad (“a second”)
• eilrif (“even number”)
• heb ail (“second to none”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of ail

radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
ail	unchanged	unchanged	hail

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.