Pain vs. Ache

In my mind "ache" is more whiny. "Pain" inflicts the strong, proud and stout. People do things in spite of being in pain, while an ache is something you complain about if you're trying to get out of doing something.

But no. No different. They are synonyms. According to dictionary.com Ache is from Akanan which means discomfort. Pain comes from punishment, which meant the same thing.

I like that description. I was thinking something similar: "ache" is vague, temporary or short-lived, and a nuisance; "pain", however, is specific, ongoing, and an ordeal.

Or, "ache" is something you do, while "pain" is something that happens to you.

Hmmm.

Given a choice, I'd take an ache over a pain any day. Unless, perversely, it was a headache or toothache, because they're actually horrible pains.

Ache is to me less acute than pain. But it doesn't have anything to do with duration. People can have long-term aches, specific to joints, muscles, etc., that rarely if ever reach the level of sharp pain. On the other hand, go break a bone; you'll get real pain, for sure, but it's generally short-lived.

caw

blacbird said:

Ache is to me less acute than pain. But it doesn't have anything to do with duration. People can have long-term aches, specific to joints, muscles, etc., that rarely if ever reach the level of sharp pain. On the other hand, go break a bone; you'll get real pain, for sure, but it's generally short-lived.

caw

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Yeah, this is how I see it too. To me, pain sounds more intense, while ache is more a discomfort than something unbearable.

Blacbird, I'd argue that a broken bone manages to combine both ache and pain. If you try to stand on a broken ankle, for example, it's red-hot skewers of jabby pain, but when that subsides, you get a long, throbbing ache, which is also what the once-broken joint may continue to give you years later. One makes you cry or yelp; the other grinds you down in an exhausting, low-level way.

I see "ache" as a subset of "pain". A given pain can be sharp, dull, throbbing, small, overpowering, chronic, brief... "Ache" implies a relatively dull, constant, non-extreme level of pain, over an extended period of time. (Compare something like "dog" and "hound": different connotations, but the latter is usually a subset of the former.)

fadeaccompli said:

I see "ache" as a subset of "pain". A given pain can be sharp, dull, throbbing, small, overpowering, chronic, brief... "Ache" implies a relatively dull, constant, non-extreme level of pain, over an extended period of time. (Compare something like "dog" and "hound": different connotations, but the latter is usually a subset of the former.)

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That's it! With the emphasis on "dull." Anything that comes on sudden and hard and makes you gasp or scream is not an ache. (Except, as Priene mentioned, for some headaches.)

Doctors use "aches and pain" on a regular basis, even in medical literature.

According to my doctor, patients gwenerally refer to anything dull as an ache, and anything sharp as a pain.

My doctor, at least, defines an ache as a pain not caused by an injury, or a specific damaged area due to disease, such as a heart attack.

He defines a pain as an injury that needs treatment.

Both can be sharp, but an ache is a overall, general problem, as with sore muscles. A pain is a torn muscle that needs repaired.

An ache what you get in your lower back from setting in the same, poor position for too long. A pain is when you have a crushed disk in your lower bck, and the pain doesn't go away when you change position.

An ache if when you finger hurts from pushing buttons all day. A pain is when your finger gets chopped off.

In other words, an ache just happen because of circumstance, and goes away on its own. A pain is caused by damage, and requires medical attention.