sick

Meaning

Adj

1. (uncommon) In poor health; ill.
2. Having an urge to vomit.
3. (colloquial) Mentally unstable, disturbed.
4. (colloquial) In bad taste.
5. Tired of or annoyed by something [with of].
6. (slang) Very good, excellent, awesome, badass.
7. In poor condition.
8. Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.

Noun

1. (Australia, British, colloquial, uncountable) Vomit.
2. (British, colloquial, uncountable) (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.

Verb

1. (Australia, British, colloquial) To vomit.
2. (intransitive) To fall sick; to sicken.

Verb

Alternative spelling of sic (“set upon”).

Opposite of

fit, healthy, well, crap, naff, uncool

Synonyms

ill

🤢

painful

unwell

diseased

ailing

vomit

unhealthy

sickly

patient

puke

infirm

weak

be sick

hurt

queasy

bad

👎

pain

throw up

sore

regurgitate

morbid

sick person

be ill

sickness

barf

fall ill

nauseous

cat

😺

regorge

disgusted

cast

vomit up

feel sick

grim

spue

spew

pallid

thin

mad

frail

macabre

nauseated

indisposed

feeble

fed up

illness

sickish

poorly

sick of

disturbed

Translations

malade

🤢

enfermo

🤢

krank

🤢

ziek

🤢

malato

🤢

ammalato

🤢

doente

🤢

malalt

🤢

άρρωστος

naar

enfermo

🤢

aeger

🤢

malsain

aegrotus

🤢

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɪk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sik

Inherited from Old English: sēoc

Cognate with Western Frisian: siik

Cognate with Dutch: ziek

Cognate with German: siech

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: syk

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: sjuk

Cognate with Danish: syg

Cognate with Middle Irish: socht

Cognate with Classical Armenian: հիւծանիմ

In summary

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.

Sentences

As sick as a dog .