Ail in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Ail

You can make 5 words from 'ail' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 3 letters words from 'ail'
• 2 letters words from 'ail'

3 letters words from 'ail'

AIL 3

2 letters words from 'ail'

AI 2	AL 2
LA 2	LI 2

Definitions and meaning of ail

ail

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

From Middle English eilen, 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.)

   • 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.
   • 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.

Translations

Noun

ail (plural ails)

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

Translations

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”). 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

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Dalmatian

Alternative forms

• alj

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

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French

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin allium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aj/
• 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)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• lai, lia

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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 or ailche)

1. stone, rock

Declension

• Archaic plural: ailche

Derived terms

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

Related terms

• aill
• ailt

Mutation

References

Further reading

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

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Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

ail

1. Alternative form of ale (“beer”)

Etymology 2

Noun

ail

1. Alternative form of hayle (“hail”)

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Norman

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin allium.

Noun

ail m (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) garlic

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Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alʲ/

Verb

·ail

1. third-person singular present indicative conjunct of ailid

Mutation

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Welsh

Alternative forms

• 2il

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ai̯l/

Adjective

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

1. second (ordinal number)

Derived terms

• ail- (“re-”), eil- (“re-”)
• eiliad (“a second”)

Mutation

Source: wiktionary.org

• to be indisposed.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)