Is an ache a countable noun?

[Grablevskij]

Could you tell me how an ache can be a countable noun. A toothache, a headache etc. Can you really count aches?
But dictionaries consider this noun countable. If I'm not mistaken.

 

[abo.omar]

n singular An emotion experienced with painful or bittersweet intensity.‘an ache in her heart’
https://www.lexico.com/definition/ache


countable noun [noun NOUN] An ache is a steady, fairly strong pain in a part of your body.
You feel nausea and aches in your muscles.
Poor posture can cause neck ache, headaches and breathing problems.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ache

 

[emsr2d2]

Could you tell me how an ache can be a countable noun - a toothache, a headache etc? Can you really count aches?
[STRIKE]But[/STRIKE] However, dictionaries consider this noun countable no full stop here if I'm not mistaken.

Please note my corrections above. It is possible to start a sentence with "But" but until you're 100% familiar with how to use it that way, I recommend that you avoid doing it.

Rather than thinking of countable nouns as physical things you can actually count, it might help you to think simply that if something clearly isn't uncountable, then it must be countable. If it was an uncountable noun, it would be possible to say, for example "Do you have any ache?" or "I have some ache". I think you probably know that those would be ungrammatical. On that basis, it must be a countable noun, as you clearly saw in dictionaries.

 

[jutfrank]

Could you tell me how an ache can be a countable noun.

There you go—you just used it countably yourself.

Think of 'an ache' as a particular sensation, just like 'a pain'. You might have a pain in your foot, and another pain in your shoulder, and so on.

 

[Skrej]

. Can you really count aches?

You'll find out soon enough, once you hit middle age or thereabouts. ;-)

They're countable, until you have so many you can't count them all.