aching

American  

[ey-king] / ˈeɪ kɪŋ /

adjective

1. causing physical pain or distress.

   treatment for an aching back.

2. full of or precipitating nostalgia, grief, loneliness, etc.

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Other Word Forms

• achingly adverb
• unaching adjective
• unachingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of aching

Middle English word dating back to 1200–1250; see origin at ache, -ing ²

Explanation

Anything that's aching is sore and painful. After a hike up the side of a steep mountain or a long day walking around a city, you'll want to rest your aching feet. To ache is to feel a dull, constant pain, and aching things ache. Both words stem from the Old English acan, "suffer pain," from a Proto-Indo-European root that might be imitative of a groaning sound, the kind of noise you may make when you have an aching head or an aching tooth. Things are sometimes described as aching in a figurative way, too, when they're full of sorrow, like an aching heart or an aching loneliness.

Example Sentences

Markets finally got the cease-fire they have been aching for, and the subsequent relief rally was fast, furious, and jubilant—no matter that the truce is temporary and fragile.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

That brief explanation understandably underplays the aching sadness that smoulders under the surface of his songs.

From BBC • Jan. 7, 2026

This doesn’t mean they’re secretly aching to become “tradwives.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 1, 2026

This isn’t bro country; it’s songs for aching hearts, for dreamers, for the lovelorn, steeped in pop, rock, Tejano and Mariachi.

From Salon • Dec. 26, 2025

Me, clasping tight, holding, feeling the rope burns, my aching arm.

From "Paradise on Fire" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Related Words

• hurting
• nagging
• sore
• throbbing