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ailment

How often do native English speakers use the word ailment in their (your) daily lives? I know it differs from the word illness for being a "faint" disease, something that doesn't necessarily need the support of a doctor. But, the thing is, I just discovered that word and never heard about it before. My guess is that ailment and illness are generally interchangeable. Is it correct?
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Yes to interchangeable, but short of an exhaustive research project, it's hard to answer "how often in your daily lives?" except that I note that my "daily life" does not dwell on medical problems.
It's not at all uncommon in BE as a word: you often see posters telling you not to visit A&E at the hospital for "minor ailments". Although there's a certain amount of overlap, it's not interchangeable with "illness" which is a more general term and can refer to something quite serious. We wouldn't really talk about a "fatal ailment" for example.
It's not at all uncommon in BE as a word: you often see posters telling you not to visit A&E at the hospital for "minor ailments". Although there's a certain amount of overlap, it's not interchangeable with "illness" which is a more general term and can refer to something quite serious. We wouldn't really talk about a "fatal ailment" for example.
A&E 👁 Confused :confused:
👁 Confused :confused:


(In the U.S., I would take that to mean the Arts and Entertainment network on cable television.👁 Smile :)
)
A&E 👁 Confused :confused:
👁 Confused :confused:


(In the U.S., I would take that to mean the Arts and Entertainment network on cable television.
It's the term used in UK hospitals for Accident and Emergency (which used at one time to be called Casualty).

I believe the US equivalent is ER (Emergency Room?), which wouldn't mean anything much to BE speakers unless they watched a lot of American films and TV shows. 👁 Wink ;)
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