pain

Etymology 1

From Middle English peyne, payne, from Old French and Anglo-Norman peine, paine, from Latin poena (“punishment, pain”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty”). Compare Danish pine, Norwegian Bokmål pine, German Pein, Dutch pijn, Afrikaans pyn. See also pine (the verb). Partly displaced native Old English sār (whence Modern English sore).

noun

1. (countable and uncountable) An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
   The greatest difficulty lies in treating patients with chronic pain.
   I had to stop running when I started getting pains in my feet.
   1. (now usually in the plural) The pangs or sufferings of childbirth, caused by contractions of the uterus.
      When the pains are every five minutes and quite strong or the cervix is five cm. dilated along with regular and strong pains, the mother is given a block anesthesia of 1 cc. of 1:200 nupercaine, 1 cc. of 10 per cent dextrose with .05 cc. of 1:1000 adrenalin. 1951 February, Forrest H. Howard, “The Physiologic Position for Delivery”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 2, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 99
2. (uncountable) The condition or fact of suffering or anguish especially mental, as opposed to pleasure; torment; distress
   In the final analysis, pain is a fact of life.
   The pain of departure was difficult to bear.
3. (countable, from pain in the neck) An annoying person or thing.
   Your mother is a right pain.
4. (uncountable, dated) Suffering inflicted as punishment or penalty.
   You may not leave this room on pain of death.
   We will, by way of mulct or pain, lay it upon him. 1629, Francis Bacon, An Advertisement Touching a Holy War
5. (chiefly in the plural) Labour; effort; great care or trouble taken in doing something.

verb

1. (transitive) To hurt; to put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment; to torture.
   The wound pained him.
2. (transitive) To render uneasy in mind; to disquiet; to distress; to grieve.
   It pains me to say that I must let you go.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To inflict suffering upon as a penalty; to punish.
4. (intransitive, India) To feel pain; to hurt.
   Please help me, I am paining hard.
   Oh my head is aching, oh Lord Damodara [Visnu], give me "kazhi". The neck is paining, oh Lord Kamadeva give me relief. My chest is paining, oh Lord Madhava, give me relief. 2001, Sarah Caldwell, quoting C. Choondal, “Waves of Beauty, Rivers of Blood: Constructing the Goddess in Kerala”, in Tracy Pintchman, editor, Seeking Mahādevī: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess, page 104
   A lady visited the doctor, a general physician and complained of a lot of pain. The doctor asked her where she experienced pain. The lady touched her right knee and said, 'It is paining here doctor.' Then she touched her stomach and said, 'It is paining here too doctor.' 2009, Nithyananda Paramahamsa, Bliss Is the Goal and the Path, page 124

Etymology 2

From Middle English payn (“a kind of pie with a soft crust”), from Old French pain (“bread”).

noun

1. (obsolete, cooking) Any of various breads stuffed with a filling.
   gammon pain; Spanish pain