douleur

pain

noun doo-LEUR Less Common

Also means

grief

Usage Note

Douleur covers both physical pain (douleur physique) and emotional suffering or grief. The adjective douloureux / douloureuse means 'painful'. The phrase avoir de la douleur is less common than simply using the verb avoir mal for physical pain, so douleur more often appears in writing or describing chronic or deep suffering.

Examples

"La douleur dans son dos est insupportable."

Natural Translation

The pain in his back is unbearable.

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