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Added 9 October 2026

sick

/ˈsɪk/ noun

In Latin: aegri Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sick at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

People who are sick.
they devote their lives to caring for the sick

verb

Eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth.
After drinking too much, the students vomited

adjective

Affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function.
ill from the monotony of his suffering
Feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit.
Affected with madness or insanity.
a man who had gone mad

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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