ache
ache — noun
1. a steady, mild hurt that you keep feeling in part of your body, less sharp than
a steady, mild hurt that you keep feeling in part of your body, less sharp than a stabbing pain but slow to go away.
Lior had a dull ache in his lower back after moving boxes all morning.
collocation: dull ache + in + body part
Vesna felt a soft ache behind her eyes from staring at the screen too long.
There was a constant ache in my knee whenever the weather turned cold.
The runner ignored the small ache in her hip and finished the race.
Grandma rubbed cream on the aches and pains in her wrists each night.
- pain
broader term covering both sharp and dull hurt
- soreness
tender feeling, often after exercise or pressure
- discomfort
milder and more general; need not be physical
文法句型
a + ache + in + body part
用法筆記
Often paired with adjectives like dull, constant, slow, or nagging — words that signal mildness or duration. The fixed phrase 'aches and pains' refers to the small body discomforts that come with age, illness, or hard work.
常見錯誤
2. a word added after the name of a body part to talk about a lasting hurt in that
a word added after the name of a body part to talk about a lasting hurt in that part, as in headache, toothache, stomachache, earache, or backache.
Anna stayed home from school with a bad headache and a sore throat.
compound: headache
The dentist gave Tom medicine for his toothache before pulling the molar.
compound: toothache
Eating too much cake gave the children a stomachache by bedtime.
Kalani got a sudden earache during the flight to Tokyo.
After lifting heavy bags of rice, my mother had a terrible backache for days.
文法句型
[body part] + ache (headache, toothache, stomachache, backache, earache)
用法筆記
This is a word-building use, not a free noun. Distinguish from sense 1: here 'ache' is glued to a body part as one written word (headache, toothache); in sense 1 it stands alone with a preposition ('an ache in my back'). American English usually writes 'stomachache' as one word; British English often writes 'stomach ache'.
常見錯誤
ache — verb
1. if a part of your body aches, it gives you a slow, steady kind of hurt that last
if a part of your body aches, it gives you a slow, steady kind of hurt that lasts a while rather than coming and going in sharp bursts.
My legs ached for two days after the long hike up Yangmingshan.
subject is body part; intransitive
Daniel's shoulders ached from carrying his nephew on a piggyback ride.
By the end of the wedding, the bride's feet ached so much she took her shoes off.
Mira's head ached, so she lay down in a dark, quiet room.
Every joint in his body ached when the flu finally hit him.
文法句型
[body part] + aches
用法筆記
Subject is almost always a body part (legs, head, feet, back, muscles). Often followed by 'from + cause' or 'after + event'. Distinguish from verb sense 2: here the cause is physical strain or illness, not emotional longing.
常見錯誤
2. to want a person or thing so badly that the longing itself feels like a slow, pa
to want a person or thing so badly that the longing itself feels like a slow, painful weight inside you — used in poems, novels, and songs more than in everyday talk.
Mei ached for her grandmother's cooking during her first winter abroad in Berlin.
pattern: ache + for + noun
After the war, the soldiers ached to see their families again.
pattern: ache + to-infinitive
The young pianist ached for one chance to play at the National Concert Hall.
Watching the children laugh in the park, she ached to be a mother herself.
His heart ached for the village he had left behind thirty years ago.
文法句型
ache + for + noun
ache + to + verb
用法筆記
Distinguish from verb sense 1: here the subject is a person or 'heart', not a body part hurt by injury. Almost always intransitive with 'for + noun' or 'to + verb'. Common in literary or emotional writing; in plain speech, learners usually choose 'long for', 'miss', or 'really want'.