FromMiddle Englishsekenen, equivalent tosick +-en. Cognate withDanishsygne(“to pine”),Swedishsjukna(“to fall ill; become sick”),Norwegiansykne,Icelandicsjúkna(“to sicken; become sick”).
sicken (third-person singular simple presentsickens,present participlesickening,simple past and past participlesickened)
- (transitive) To makeill.
The infection willsicken him until amputation is needed.
- (intransitive) To become ill.
I willsicken if I don’t get some more exercise.
1627 (indicated as1626),Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, inSylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […];[p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […],→OCLC:The judges that sat upon the jail, and numbers of those that attended,[…]sickened upon it and died.
- (transitive) To fill with disgust or abhorrence.
His arrogant behavioursickens me.
- (sports) Tolower thestanding of.
2007, Euan Reedie,Alan Shearer: Portrait Of A Legend - Captain Fantastic,→ISBN:Whenever I get booed by opposition fans it only makes me more determined tosicken them.
2011, Scott Burns,Walter Smith the Ibrox Gaffer: A Tribute to a Rangers Legend,→ISBN:But instead of giving up, the Rangers team managed to grab a dramatic later winner from Kenny Miller tosicken St Mirren and lift the cup
2016 September 28, Tom English, “Celtic 3–3 Manchester City”, in(Please provide the book title or journal name)[1],BBC Sport:City took control, pinning a tiring Celtic back and threatening tosicken them with a winner.
- (intransitive) To be filled with disgust or abhorrence.
1607, William Shakespeare,Antony and Cleopatra:Mine eyes didsicken at the sight.
- (intransitive) To become disgusting or tedious.
1770, Oliver Goldsmith,The Deserted Village:The toiling pleasuresickens into pain.
- (intransitive) To become weak; to decay; to languish.
1734, Alexander Pope,An Essay on Man:All pleasuressicken, and all glories sink.
FromCentral Franconiansecke(“to piss”), fromProto-West Germanic*saikijan, whence also archaicGermanseichen.
The Central Franconian-ck- may be irregular or may be from a geminated variantProto-Germanic*sikkōną (compareGermansickern). The figurative sense “to be annoyed, to complain” is also found in cognateDutchzeiken. CompareEnglishpissed off.
sicken (weak,third-person singular presentsickt,past tensesickte,past participlegesickt,auxiliaryhaben)
- (regional, colloquial, western Germany) topiss
Ich geh ma’ ebensicken.- I’m gonnatake a piss.
- (regional, colloquial, western Germany) to beannoyed; to bepissed off; tocomplain
Lass ihn! Der is’ den ganzen Tag schon amSicken.- Leave him! He’sbeen pissed off all day.
- The figurative sense is used chiefly in the colloquial progressive witham (as above).
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative inwürde normally preferred.
Composed forms of
sicken (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
- “sicken” inDigitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “sicken” in Uni Leipzig:Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “sicken” inDuden online
- “sicken” inOpenThesaurus.de
Contracted fromse(“to look, see”) andvicken, which was the older pronunciation ofvilken(“what, which”).
sicken csicket nsicka, sickna pl
- (colloquial) what a; expresses a (often strong) feeling such as surprise, disappointment; liking, disliking
