headache

English

Alternative forms

• headach (obsolete)
• head-ache (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English hevedeche, from Old English hēafodeċe, equivalent to head +‎ ache.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdeɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdeɪk

Noun

A person with a headache.

headache (plural headaches)

2. (medicine) A pain or ache in the head.

   I have a splitting headache after that party last night.

   I advise you to take some painkillers for the headache, it's probably nothing serious.

   • 1997, George Carlin, “SPORTS ROUNDUP”, in Brain Droppings‎^[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 68:

     Sometimes on television they tell you a product is "good for headaches." I don't want something that's good for headaches. I want something that's bad for headaches. And good for me.

3. (figurative) A nuisance or unpleasant problem.

   The clumsy filing system has been a huge headache.

Synonyms

• (physical pain): cephalalgia
• (annoyance): bother, pain in the neck

Hyponyms

• hangover
• hemicrania
• megrim
• migraine
• tension headache

Derived terms

• alarm clock headache
• cluster headache
• headache vine
• icecream headache
• ice cream headache
• ice-pick headache
• I have a headache
• migraine headache
• red wine headache
• sexual headache
• sick headache
• suicide headache
• thunderclap headache

 

Translations

pain or ache in the head

• Albanian: dhembje koke
• Arabic: صُدَاع m (ṣudāʕ)

  Egyptian Arabic: صداع m (ṣudāʕ)

  Hijazi Arabic: صُداع m (ṣudāʕ)

• Armenian: գլխացավ (hy) (glxacʻav)
• Assamese: মূৰৰ বিষ (muror bix)
• Bashkir: баш ауыртыу (baş awırtıw)
• Basque: buruko min
• Belarusian: галаўны́ боль m (halaŭný bolʹ)
• Breton: poan-benn (br) f
• Bulgarian: главобо́лие (bg) n (glavobólie)
• Burmese: ခေါင်းကိုက်ခြင်း (hkaung:kuikhkrang:)
• Catalan: mal de cap (ca) m
• Cebuano: sakit sa ulo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 頭痛 / 头痛 (tau⁴ tung³), 頭赤 / 头赤 (tau⁴ cek³)

  Hakka: 頭那痛 / 头那痛 (thèu-nà-thung)

  Hokkien: 頭疼 / 头疼 (zh-min-nan) (thâu-thiàⁿ), 頭殼疼 / 头壳疼 (thâu-khak-thiàⁿ)

  Mandarin: 頭疼 / 头疼 (zh) (tóuténg) (verb; "to have a headache"), 頭痛 / 头痛 (zh) (tóutòng)

• Czech: bolest hlavy f, cefalea f, cefalgie f
• Danish: hovedpine (da) c
• Dutch: hoofdpijn (nl) m, koppijn (nl) m (informal)
• Elfdalian: sårskollan
• Erzya: прясэредькс (pŕaseŕeďks)
• Esperanto: kapdoloro
• Estonian: peavalu
• Faroese: høvuðpína f, høvuðverkur m
• Finnish: päänsärky (fi)
• French: mal de tête (fr) m
• Galician: dor de cabeza f
• Georgian: თავის ტკივილი (tavis ṭḳivili)
• German: Kopfschmerzen (de) m pl, Kopfweh (de) n, Kopfschmerz (de) m

  Alemannic German: Chopfwee f

• Greek: πονοκέφαλος (el) m (ponokéfalos), κεφαλαλγία (el) (kefalalgía)
• Gujarati: માથાનો દુખાવો (māthāno dukhāvo)
• Hebrew: כאב ראש (he) m (ke'év rosh)
• Hindi: सिरदर्द (hi) m (sirdard), सरदर्द (hi) m (sardard)
• Hungarian: fejfájás (hu)
• Icelandic: höfuðverkur (is) m, hausverkur (is) m (informal)
• Ido: kapodoloro (io)
• Ilocano: sakit ti ulo
• Indonesian: sakit kepala
• Interlingua: mal de testa, mal de capite
• Irish: tinneas cinn m
• Italian: mal di testa (it) m
• Japanese: 頭痛 (ja) (ずつう, zutsū)
• Kapampangan: sakit buntuk
• Kazakh: бас ауруы (bas auruy)
• Khmer: ជំងឺឈឺក្បាល (chumŋɨɨ cʰɨɨ kbaal)
• Korean: 두통(頭痛) (ko) (dutong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەرێشە (serêşe)

  Northern Kurdish: serêşî (ku) f

• Latin: capitis dolor m, dolor capitis m, cephalalgia f, cephalargia f
• Latvian: galvassāpes m
• Lithuanian: galvos skausmas m
• Luxembourgish: Kappwéi m
• Macedonian: главоболка (mk) f (glavobolka)
• Malagasy: aretin'andoha
• Malay: sakit kepala (ms)​
• Malayalam: തലവേദന (ml) (talavēdana)
• Maltese: uġigħ ta’ ras
• Manx: kione-ching m
• Maori: mōngurunguru, ngāhoahoa, pāhoahoa, kotiuru
• Marathi: डोकेदुखी f (ḍokedukhī)
• Nepali: टाउको दुखाइ (ṭāuko dukhāi)
• Norman: ma d'tête m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hodepine (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: hovudverk m

• Occitan: mal de cap (oc) m
• Okinawan: 頭病ん (ちぶるやん, chiburuyan)
• Old English: hēafodeċe m
• Oromo: mataa bowwuu
• Ossetian: сӕрниз (særniz)
• Ottoman Turkish: باش آغریسی (baş ağrısı), بیضه (beyza)
• Persian: سردرد (fa) (sar-dard)
• Polish: ból głowy m
• Portuguese: dor de cabeça (pt) f, enxaqueca (pt) f
• Quechua: uma nanay
• Romanian: durere de cap
• Russian: головна́я боль (ru) f (golovnája bolʹ)
• S'gaw Karen: ခိၣ်ဆါ (khoh̀ hsah)
• Santali: ᱵᱚᱦᱚᱜ ᱦᱟᱹᱥᱩ (bôhôk’ hăsu)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: главобоља f

  Roman: glavobolja (sh) f

• Sicilian: mali di testa m, mal' 'i testa m
• Sinhalese: හිසරදය (hisaradaya)
• Slovak: bolesť hlavy f
• Slovene: glavobol (sl) f
• Southern Altai: баштыҥ оорузы (baštïŋ ooruzï)
• Spanish: dolor de cabeza (es) m, cefalea (es) f, jaqueca (es) f, dolor capital m, cefalalgia (es) f, neuralgia (es) f
• Swahili: maumivu ya kichwa
• Swedish: huvudvärk (sv) c
• Tagalog: sakit ng ulo
• Tahitian: hoa
• Tamil: தலைவலி (ta) (talaivali)
• Tatar: баш авырту (baş awırtu)
• Telugu: తలనొప్పి (te) (talanoppi)
• Thai: ปวดหัว (bpùuat-hǔua)
• Turkish: baş ağrısı (tr)
• Ukrainian: головни́й біль m (holovnýj bilʹ)
• Urdu: سر درد m (sar dard, sir dard)
• Vietnamese: chứng nhức đầu (症𤴵頭)
• Volapük: kapadol
• Welsh: cur pen (cy) f, pen tost (cy) m
• Yakut: төбө ыарыыта (töbö ıarııta)
• Yiddish: קאָפּווייטיק m (kopveytik)
• Yucatec Maya: k'iinam
• Zulu: ikhanda (zu) class 5/6, ubuhlungu bekhanda class 14

nuisance or unpleasant problem

• Albanian: kokëçarje (sq) f
• Armenian: գլխացավանք (hy) (glxacʻavankʻ)
• Bashkir: мәшәҡәт (məşəqət)
• Bulgarian: неприятност (bg) f (neprijatnost)
• Catalan: maldecap (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 頭疼 / 头疼 (zh) (tóuténg) (verb; "to have a headache")

• Danish: hovedpine (da) c
• Dutch: hoofdbreker m, kopzorg (nl)
• Finnish: päänsärky (fi), päänvaiva (fi)
• French: casse-tête (fr) m
• German: Kopfschmerzen (de) m pl
• Greek: πονοκέφαλος (el) m (ponokéfalos), μπελάς (el) m (belás), βάσανο (el) n (vásano)
• Hungarian: fejfájás (hu), gond (hu), bosszúság (hu), nyűg (hu)
• Icelandic: höfuðverkur (is) m
• Marathi: डोकेदुखी f (ḍokedukhī)
• Polish: ból głowy m
• Portuguese: dor de cabeça (pt) f, problemão m
• Romanian: bătaie de cap f, pacoste (ro) f
• Russian: головна́я боль (ru) f (golovnája bolʹ)
• Spanish: dolor de cabeza (es) m, quebradero de cabeza (es) m, quebradero capital m
• Swedish: huvudvärk (sv) c
• Tagalog: sakit ng ulo