sick
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: sĭk
ipa: /sɪk/
homophone: sic
homophone: Sikh
rhymes: -ɪk
Forms: form: sicker
form: sickest
Etymology: From Middle English sik, sike, seek, seke, seok, from Old English sēoc (“sick, ill”), from Proto-West Germanic *seuk, from Proto-Germanic *seukaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sewg- (“to be troubled or grieved”).
See also West Frisian siik, Dutch ziek, German siech, Norwegian Bokmål syk, Norwegian Nynorsk sjuk, Danish syg; also Middle Irish socht (“silence, depression”), Old Armenian հիւծանիմ (hiwcanim, “I am weakening”).
The "very good, excellent" sense is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of "in poor health". Compare similar semantic development in terrific and wicked.
Senses: examples: text: She was sick all day with the flu.
text: We have to care for the sick.
text: Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.
ref: a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc’s “Science of cirurgie.”, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63:
text: ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: ill
word: not well
word: poorly
word: sickly
word: unwell
word: diseased
word: disease-ridden
word: infect
word: infected
word: morbid
word: morbific
word: morbose
word: unhealthy
antonyms: fit
healthy
well
glosses: In poor health; ill.
raw_tags: in the UK and Ireland
examples: text: My daughter was violently sick three times in the night.
text: In the meantime the old man had gotten up and gone out in the yard and began to vomit. Henry said I believe I feel sick and got up and went out. He went out one door and his father went out the other one. I did not think there was anything wrong with the coffee and I asked my wife to pour this out […]
ref: 1913, The Texas criminal reports, page 8:
text: Q. Didn't he complain he was sick before he commenced to vomit?
A. He did, just before he said, to me, “I feel sick,” I asked him if he wanted to throw up and he said yes.
ref: 1918, Cecil Day Lewis, The Whispering Roots, Jonathan Cape, page 140:
text: […] trying hard to cry. Crying’s good. Crying teaches him to breathe. But I wish he weren’t crying from hunger. I feel dizzy. I sit down and feel a little sick. Maybe I’ll vomit, too. No, I never vomit. I feel sick, but I won’t vomit. I never vomit.
ref: 1958, Gene D’Olive, Chiara, Signet Book:
text: I feel sick, like I might vomit, and I'm more tired than I can ever remember feeling.
ref: 2013, Cheryl Rainfield, Stained, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 38:
synonyms: word: nauseated
word: barfy
word: nauseated
word: nauseatic
word: pukey
word: pukish
word: queasy
word: sick
word: sick to one's stomach
word: vomity
glosses: Having an urge to vomit.
examples: text: You sick bastard!
text: What a sick, sick feeling / To let you go, my dear
ref: 2018, Boy Pablo, “Sick Feeling”:
synonyms: disturbed
twisted
warped
glosses: Mentally unstable, disturbed.
examples: text: That’s a sick joke.
glosses: In bad taste.
examples: text: I’ve heard that song on the radio so many times that I’m starting to get sick of it.
text: I’m so sick of that same old love, the kind that breaks your heart.
ref: 2015, “Same Old Love”, in Revival, performed by Selena Gomez:
info_templates: extra_data: words: of
expansion: [with of]
glosses: Tired of or annoyed by something [with of].
examples: text: This tune is sick.
text: He showed off his sick surfing skills.
text: Dude, this car's got a sick subwoofer!
synonyms: word: rad
word: wicked
word: ace
word: admirable
word: awe-inspiring
word: awesome
word: bang on
word: bang-up
word: based
word: beneship
word: bitching
word: bomb
word: brilliant
word: bully
word: cher
word: choice
word: chronic
word: chur
word: cock on
word: cool
word: copacetic
word: crackerjack
word: cushty
word: dank
word: def
word: dope
word: excellent
word: exceptional
word: fab
word: fabulous
word: fantabulosa
word: fantastic
word: finger-lickin' good
word: fire
word: fireball
word: first-rate
word: fly
word: frabjous
word: gnarly
word: goated
word: great
word: grouse
word: kicking
word: killer
word: lash
word: lautitious
word: lit
word: marvelous
word: nang
word: outstanding
word: out of sight
word: phat
word: peng
word: phenomenal
word: pukka
word: quality
word: rad
word: radical
word: rum
word: sick
word: slap-up
word: slick
word: spiffing
word: splendid
word: sterling
word: super
word: superb
word: superior
word: sweet
word: swell
word: terrific
word: tight
word: top
word: top-drawer
word: top-hole
word: top-notch
word: top-of-the-range
word: top-shelf
word: topping
word: tubular
word: wicked
word: wicked pissah
word: wonderful
word: worldie
antonyms: crap
naff
uncool
glosses: Very good, excellent, awesome, badass.
examples: text: sick building syndrome; my car is looking pretty sick; my job prospects are pretty sick
glosses: In poor condition.
topics: agriculture
business
lifestyle
glosses: Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.
Derived terms: airsick
altitude-sick
be sick
be taken sick
black-sick
brainsick
call in sick
call out sick
carsick
dogsick
dope sick
euthyroid sick syndrome
fall sick
get sick
guilt-sick
heartsick
homesick
I'm sick
iron-sick
iron sick
ironsick
junk sick
junk-sick
lovesick
lung sick
milt-sick
moonsick
nail sick
nailsick
never sick at sea
out sick
pig-sick
saddle-sick
seasick
sick-abed
sick and tired
sick and twisted
sick as a cat
sick as a dog
sick as a horse
sick as a parrot
sick ass
sick-ass
sick at heart
sick bag
sick bay
sickbay
sickbed
sick building
sick building syndrome
sick burn
sick call
sick club
sick day
sicken
sickening
sick headache
sickhouse
sickie
sickish
sick joke
sick leave
sick list
sick lit
sickly
sick man
sick man of Asia
sick man of East Asia
sick man of Europe
sickness
sick note
sick nurse
sicko
sick office syndrome
sickout
sick parade
sick pay
sick puppy
sickroom
sick sinus syndrome
sick to one's stomach
sick to the back teeth
sick-wagon
soulsick
take sick
thoughtsick
tobacco-sick
turn-sick
white-sick
worry someone sick