Other forms: heartaches
Heartache is deep sorrow, especially over lost love. Years of heartache, cause heartache, spare her the heartache.
It is a mass noun with no plural, and it names a long ache rather than a sharp grief. The physical feeling behind the word is real: intense emotional distress genuinely produces chest sensations, and there is a heart condition named after it.
1nounheartacheDeep sorrow, especially over lost love.
“Their breakup caused her months of heartache.”
heartache is a sorrow.
Also accepted in games: heartbreak
Old English heorteece, heart plus ache. The word was literal before it was figurative.
Old English
heorteċe
Middle English
heorteece
English, today
heartache
From Middle English heorteece, heorte-ece, from Old English heorteċe, equivalent to heart + ache. Blends both literal and figurative aspects, as emotional distress sometimes includes a physical element of chest discomfort. Compare heartbreak#Etymology, where the literal aspect is lesser, though it still can be said to have a physiological basis.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA