Etymograph

English

ail

Ail comes from Middle English eilen ‘to trouble, afflict, or harm’, from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan ‘to mistreat’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- ‘bad’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂egʰ-1‘bad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂egʰ-lo-s1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aglaz2‘painful’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aglijaną3‘to trouble, vex’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aglijan3‘to mistreat’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150eġlan3‘to trouble, afflict’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500eilen3‘to trouble, afflict, or harm’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611ail3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *aglaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *aglijaną
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English ail
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “What aileth thee, Hagar?”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂egʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *aglaz‘bad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂egʰ-lo-sWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *aglazreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aglazWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *aglijaną‘painful’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aglijanąWiktionary, English ail‘to trouble, vex’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aglijanWiktionary, English ail‘to mistreat’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150eġlanWiktionary, English ail‘to trouble, afflict’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500eilenWiktionary, English ail‘to trouble, afflict, or harm’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611ailWiktionary, English ail. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “What aileth thee, Hagar?”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- ‘bad’

ugly, awe, ug

Another origin of ail

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*agilō‘awn’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150eġl‘an ail’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500eile
  4. Englishtodayail

Today it means

verb To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ail”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *aglaz, Proto-Germanic *aglijaną. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- / ail

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