What does ail mean?
To ail is to suffer from poor health or persistent trouble, whether physical, mental, or — by extension — institutional or financial. The verb is most commonly used intransitively, as in asking 'What ails you?', and its present participle 'ailing' has become a standard way to describe anything in decline, from an ailing relative to an ailing industry. The word carries a slightly formal, even literary register: doctors and journalists reach for it more often than casual speakers, who might simply say they feel unwell. Its connotations are gentle rather than dramatic — to ail suggests ongoing discomfort or malaise rather than acute crisis. Derived from Old English roots meaning 'to trouble,' the word has kept that sense of nagging, hard-to-pin-down distress for over a thousand years, making it one of the older survivors of everyday English vocabulary.
verbTo ail is to be troubled by ill health or persistent problems; it also means to cause such trouble or distress to someone or something.
- To be unwell or troubled in body or mind: to suffer from an illness or persistent problem.
- To cause pain, distress, or difficulty to someone or something.
"The patient complained of vague pains, but the doctors could find nothing seriously amiss — whatever was ailing her remained elusive."
"She wondered what could possibly be ailing her usually cheerful grandfather."
"Analysts pointed to rising debt as the root of what was ailing the company."
Despite sounding like something you'd order at a pub, 'ail' has been describing human misery since before the Norman Conquest.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of ail
Ail descends from Old English eglan, meaning 'to trouble or pain,' which itself derives from egle, an adjective meaning troublesome or painful. The word has been part of English since before the Norman Conquest, preserving its original sense of nagging distress across more than a millennium. It is unrelated to the beverage 'ale,' despite their identical modern pronunciation.
Related word forms
How ail is actually used
Most often used intransitively ('what ails him?') or in the participial form 'ailing' to describe people, institutions, or economies in decline. Slightly formal or literary in tone; everyday speech tends to prefer phrases like 'feeling under the weather.'
Easily confused with ail
Ale is an alcoholic beverage brewed from malt; ail is a verb meaning to suffer or cause suffering.
An aisle is a passage between rows of seats in a church, theatre, or plane; ail is a verb about illness or trouble.