ailment

/ˈeɪlmənt/

/ˈeɪlmənt/

Other forms: ailments

If you've got a rash or a persistent cough, you can call that an ailment. Some other common ailments are allergies or chronic headaches. They can be a real pain. Literally.

The word ailment comes from the Old English eglan meaning "to trouble, plague, afflict," and the suffix -ment from the Latin mentum, which when added to the end of word describing an action turns that word into the result of that action. So the result of something that troubles, plagues or afflicts you is an ailment — a pain or discomfort that just doesn't seem to go away.

Definitions of ailment

1. noun

   an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
   synonyms: complaint, ill

   types:

   pip

   a minor nonspecific ailment

   kinetosis, motion sickness

   the state of being dizzy or nauseated because of the motions that occur while traveling in or on a moving vehicle

   air sickness, airsickness

   motion sickness experienced while traveling by air (especially during turbulence)

   car sickness

   motion sickness experienced while traveling in a car

   mal de mer, naupathia, seasickness

   motion sickness experienced while traveling on water

   type of:

   disorder, upset

   a physical condition in which there is a disturbance of normal functioning