sick
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: agriculture
business
lifestyle
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 and Swedish sjuk, Danish syg; also Middle Irish socht (“silence, depression”), Old Armenian հիւծանիմ (hiwcanim, “to be 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.
Inflected forms:
form: sicker
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: sickest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: sicks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: sicking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: sicked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: sicked
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: In poor health; ill.
pos: adj
examples: We have to care for the sick.
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.
‘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.[…]’
gloss: In poor health; ill.
pos: adj
examples: She was sick all day with the flu.
sick with a cold—sick with contagious diseases—sick with sciatica—sick with love—sick with worry
gloss: Having an urge to vomit.
pos: adj
examples: My daughter was violently sick three times in the night.
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 […]
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.
[…] 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, to never vomit. I feel sick, but I won’t vomit. I never vomit.
I feel sick, like I might vomit, and I'm more tired than I can ever remember feeling.
gloss: Mentally unstable, disturbed.
pos: adj
tags: colloquial
examples: You sick bastard!
What a sick, sick feeling / To let you go, my dear
gloss: In bad taste.
pos: adj
tags: colloquial
examples: That’s a sick joke.
gloss: [with of] Tired of or annoyed by (something that has lasted a long time or often recurs).
pos: adj
examples: sick and tired of the whining—sick of waiting—'sick of politics
I’ve heard that song on the radio so many times that I’m starting to get sick of it.
I’m so sick of that same old love, the kind that breaks your heart.
gloss: Very good, excellent, awesome, badass.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: This tune is sick.
He showed off his sick surfing skills.
Dude, this car's got a sick subwoofer!
gloss: In poor condition.
pos: adj
examples: sick building syndrome; my car is looking pretty sick; my job prospects are pretty sick
gloss: Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.
pos: adj
gloss: Vomit.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
UK
colloquial
uncountable
examples: […] they're spitting and belching chunks of lentilly gunk. Looks like sick.
The bogan, true to form, laps it up like a dog does its own sick.
gloss: (especially in the phrases on the sick and on long-term sick) Any of various current or former benefits or allowances paid by the Government to support the sick, disabled or incapacitated.
pos: noun
tags: UK
colloquial
uncountable
gloss: To vomit.
pos: verb
tags: Australia
UK
colloquial
examples: I woke up at 4 am and sicked on the floor.
gloss: To fall sick; to sicken.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.
Old man to pickney, so wave unno hand if you with me /To see the sufferation sick me.
Derived words: airsick
altitude-sick
be sick
be taken sick
black-sick
brainsick
bussick
call in sick
call out sick
carsick
cropsick
dogsick
dope sick
euthyroid sick syndrome
fall sick
fancy-sick
get sick
greensick
guilt-sick
heartsick
heatsick
homesick
I'm sick
iron-sick
iron sick
ironsick
junk sick
junk-sick
landsick
lovesick
lungsick
lung sick
milt-sick
moonsick
nail sick
nailsick
never sick at sea
out sick
oversick
permasick
pig-sick
planesick
pornsick
saddle-sick
schoolsick
seasick
sicc
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
sickbag
sickbay
sick bay
sickbed
sick building
sick building syndrome
sick burn
sick call
sick club
sick day
sickee
sicken
sickening
sickfic
sick headache
sickhouse
sickie
sickish
sick joke
sick leave
sickless
sick list
sick lit
sickly
sick man
sick man of Asia
sick man of East Asia
sick man of Europe
sickness
sicknik
sick note
sick nurse
sicknurse
sicko
sick office syndrome
sickout
sick parade
sick pay
sick person
sick puppy
sickroom
sick sinus syndrome
sick to one's stomach
sick to the back teeth
sickular
sickularism
sick unto death
sick-wagon
sick with worry
sicky
soulsick
spacesick
take sick
thoughtsick
tobacco-sick
trainsick
turn-sick
turnsick
unsick
white-sick
worry someone sick
sick sack
sick up
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: бо́лен
roman: bólen
lang: Bulgarian
word: болен
roman: bolen
lang: Danish
word: syg
lang: Danish
word: syge
lang: Dutch
word: zieke
lang: Dutch
word: zieken
lang: Esperanto
word: malsanulo
lang: Finnish
word: sairaat
lang: French
word: les malades
lang: Galician
word: doentes
lang: Galician
word: enfermos
lang: Hindi
word: अस्वस्थ
roman: asvasth
lang: Italian
word: gli ammalati
lang: Central Kurdish
word: نەخۆش
roman: nexoş
lang: Latin
word: aegri
lang: Latvian
word: sirdzējs
lang: Malay
word: pesakit
lang: Norwegian
word: syke
lang: Portuguese
word: doentes
lang: Portuguese
word: enfermos
lang: Swedish
word: sjuka
lang: Ukrainian
word: хво́рий
roman: xvóryj