painful

English

Alternative forms

• painfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English paynful, peinful, peynful, paynefull, peynefull, equivalent to pain +‎ -ful. Compare Danish pinefuld (“painful”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪn.fəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪnfəl

Adjective

painful (comparative painfuller or more painful, superlative painfullest or most painful)

1. Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. [from 14th c.]

   Synonyms: excruciating, torturous; see also Thesaurus:agonizing

   Antonyms: painless, painfree

   • 2009 September 1, Elizabeth Svoboda, “In Tonsils, a Problem the Size of a Pea”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     In a 2008 case report from India, doctors described removing a giant tonsillolith that was making it painful for a young patient to swallow.

   • 2014, Charles L. Mee, Jr, Lorenzo de Medici:

     A rackingly painful disease that affects the joints and finally cripples, it is caused by an imbalance of uric acid in the system.

2. Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person). [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: doleful, sorrowful, smartful, irksome, annoying; see also Thesaurus:painful

   Antonyms: painless, painfree

3. Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: laborious, exerting

4. (archaic) Painstaking; careful; industrious. [from 16th c.]
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 142:

     The men bestow their times in fishing, hunting, warres, and such manlike exercises, scorning to be seene in any woman-like exercise, which is the cause that the women be very painefull, and the men often idle.

   • 1791, James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson:

     To all these painful labourers Johnson shewed a never-ceasing kindness, so far as they stood in need of it.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 2, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):

     For twenty generations, here was the earthly arena where painful living men worked out their life-wrestle

5. (informal) Very bad, poor.

   His violin playing is painful.

Derived terms

• painful bladder syndrome
• painfully
• painfulness
• painful on the eyes

 

Translations

causing pain

• Arabic: أَلِيم (ʔalīm), مُؤْلِم (muʔlim), مُوجِع (mūjiʕ)
• Belarusian: балю́чы (baljúčy)
• Bikol Central: makulog (bcl)
• Bulgarian: боле́знен (bg) (boléznen), мъчи́телен (bg) (mǎčítelen) (causing grief, pain or sorrow), бо́лен (bg) (bólen) (sore)
• Catalan: dolorós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 痛苦的 (tòngkǔ de), 疼痛的 (téngtòng de)

• Czech: bolestivý (cs), bolavý (cs), bolestný (cs) (of experience)
• Danish: smertefuld (da), smertelig
• Esperanto: dolora
• Finnish: kivulias (fi), tuskallinen (fi)
• French: douloureux (fr)
• Galician: doloroso (gl)
• Georgian: მტკივნეული (mṭḳivneuli)
• German: schmerzhaft (de)
• Greek: επώδυνος (el) (epódynos), οδυνηρός (el) (odynirós), λυπηρός (el) (lypirós)

  Ancient: ἐπώδυνος (epṓdunos), ὀδυνηρός (odunērós), λυπηρός (lupērós)

• Hawaiian: ʻeha
• Hungarian: fájdalmas (hu)
• Ingrian: vaivakas
• Irish: pianmhar (ga), pianúil, pianach, piantach, piantúil, léanmhar
• Italian: doloroso (it)
• Japanese: 痛い (ja) (いたい, itai), 痛みの伴う (いたみのともなう, itami no tomonau)
• Korean: 아프다 (ko) (apeuda)
• Macedonian: болен (bolen)
• Maori: tārū, tārūrū, hīrawerawe, pāwera, pāwerawera
• Mbyá Guaraní: axy
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: smertefull

  Nynorsk: smertefull

• Occitan: dolorós (oc)
• Polish: bolesny (pl)
• Portuguese: doloroso (pt), dolorido (pt)
• Romanian: dureros (ro)
• Russian: боле́зненный (ru) (boléznennyj), мучи́тельный (ru) (mučítelʹnyj) (causing grief, pain or sorrow), больно́й (ru) (bolʹnój) (sore)
• Sanskrit: दुःख (sa) (duḥkha)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бо̑лан

  Roman: bȏlan (sh)

• Slovak: bolestivý, boľavý
• Slovene: boleč (sl)
• Spanish: doloroso (es)
• Swedish: smärtsam (sv)
• Tagalog: masakit
• Tausug: masakit
• Tocharian B: laklese
• Ukrainian: болю́чий (uk) (boljúčyj), бо́лісний (uk) (bólisnyj)
• Waray-Waray: maul-ul, masu-ol

suffering with pain

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bikol Central: makulog (bcl)
• Bulgarian: бо́лен (bg) (bólen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 痛苦的 (tòngkǔ de), 疼痛的 (téngtòng de)

• Czech: (of body part) bolestivý (cs); (of experience) bolestný (cs)
• Esperanto: dolora
• Finnish: kipeä (fi), kivulias (fi), tuskallinen (fi)
• Greek: επώδυνος (el) (epódynos)
• Hawaiian: ʻeha
• Higaonon: masakit
• Italian: doloroso (it)
• Japanese: 痛い (ja) (いたい, itai)
• Korean: 아프다 (ko) (apeuda)
• Latin: dolens (la)
• Maori: tārū, tārūrū, hīrawerawe, pāwera
• Mbyá Guaraní: axy
• Persian: دردناک (fa) (dardnâk)
• Polish: bolesny (pl)
• Portuguese: dolorido (pt), doído (pt)
• Russian: больно́й (ru) (bolʹnój)
• Spanish: dolorido (es), adolorido (es) (Americas)
• Swedish: smärtsam (sv)
• Tagalog: masakit
• Vietnamese: đau đớn (vi)

requiring labor or toil

• Bulgarian: тру́ден (bg) (trúden)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吃力的 (chīlì de), 艱苦的 / 艰苦的 (jiānkǔ de)

• Dutch: moeizaam (nl), smartelijk (nl)
• Finnish: raskas (fi), rasittava (fi), työläs (fi)
• French: laborieux (fr)
• Greek: επίπονος (el) (epíponos)
• Hungarian: fáradságos (hu), nehéz (hu)
• Japanese: 苦しい (ja) (くるしい, kurushii), 困難な (ja) (こんなんな, konnan na); (figurative) 骨の折れる (ほねのおれる, hone no oreru)
• Latin: laboriosus
• Portuguese: árduo (pt), extenuante (pt)
• Russian: тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj), тя́гостный (ru) (tjágostnyj), тя́жкий (ru) (tjážkij)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} jandar (ku), ^{(please verify)} biêş (ku), ^{(please verify)} êşdar (ku), ^{(please verify)} biazar (ku), ^{(please verify)} biezyet (ku)

• Old French: ^{(please verify)} dolent
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ağrılı (tr)