toothache

UK/ˈtuθˌeɪk/US/ˈtuθˌeɪk/

nounA2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,882 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: toothaches

Toothache is a pain in a tooth. Have toothache, terrible toothache, toothache kept him awake.

In British English it usually takes no article, so people have toothache rather than a toothache. It is one of the oldest complaints in the language and the word has barely changed in a thousand years.

Definitions of toothache

1nountoothacheA pain in a tooth.A2+
“Toothache kept him awake for two nights before he rang the dentist.”

toothache is a pain.

Where it comes from

Old English tothece is simply tooth plus ache, and the compound has survived unchanged in sense.

Old English
tōþeċe — toothache
Middle English
toth-ake
English, today
toothache

From Middle English toth-ake, from Old English tōþeċe (“toothache”). by surface analysis, tooth + ache.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

toothache in the wild

Proper oral hygiene helps to prevent toothache by preventing dental disease.
Toothache
The relief of toothache is considered one of the main responsibilities of dentists.
Toothache
Midol was originally sold in 1911 as a headache and toothache remedy that was considered safer because it did not use the narcotics typically used at the time.
Midol
Medardus was one of the most honored bishops of his time, often depicted laughing, with his mouth wide open, and therefore he was invoked against toothache.
Medardus
Saint Antipas is invoked for relief from toothache, and diseases of the teeth.
Antipas of Pergamum

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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