Probablyimitative. First use appears c. 1942.
ick
- Anexclamation ofdisgust.
Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair!Ick!
2014, Vicki Robin,Blessing the Hands That Feed Us: Lessons from a 10-Mile Diet:An aside for those who think “ick” about goat milk: If there are no billy goats around to arouse those sex hormones, goat milk does not taste “goat-y.
Back-formation fromicky.
ick (countable anduncountable,pluralicks)
- (informal, uncountable) Something distasteful or physically unpleasant to touch.
2011, J. Morgan,Southern Werewolf Chronicles Book Two: Were the Moon Don't Shine:Like it wasn't bad enough that I was soaked to the bone, now I had to lug anick covered designer original across a puddle filled runway.
2013 August 6, John Michael McGrath, “The Frankenmeat of the Future”, inHazlitt[1]:The UN, for its part, has suggested eating insects as a way of feeding those extra mouths, which may put the frankenmeatick factor in perspective.
2015, Chris Lynch,Killing Time in Crystal City, page182:Did you getick all over my things? Should I walk myself through a car wash on the way home?
- (informal) A feeling ofrevulsion.
- to have theick
1999 March 30, judy wieder, “Steve Kmetko's true hollywood story”, inThe Advocate, page36:And I was nodding, "Uh-huh," trying not to have anick attack, worrying,Is my face giving something away?
2017, Caragh M. O'Brien,The Keep of Ages, page36:I wish none of this bothered me, but I feel thisick about Burnham and it isn't going away.
2018, NJ Damschroder,Manifest Destiny:She'd woken up today with a generalick about doing this job, but every time she considered canceling and giving Hailey her money back, she couldn't do it.
2022, Anna Williamson,Where is the Love?: The Honest Guide to Dating and Relationships:And as sad as that can be, we can't fake our feelings – if you've got theick, you've got theick.
2024 March 12, J. Edward Moreno, quoting Kathryn D. Coduto, “Dating Apps Have Hit a Wall. Can They Turn Things Around?”, inThe New York Times[2],→ISSN:“People use dating apps, but I don’t know anyone who pays for it,” Ms. Wang said. In fact, she said that she would consider it an “ick” if she learned somebody was paying for a subscription.
- (slang) Anything moaned about; agripe.
1963, Thomas A. Erhard,The Electronovac Gasser: A Farce in Three Acts, page45:How can you stand such anick ?
2009, Mary-Janice Davidson, Nina Bangs, Janelle Denison,Surf's Up:Of course, the idea of drinking blood is a totalick right now, but I suppose once you—
2012, Doris Piserchia,The Dimensioneers:For the umpteenth time that day one of my fellow men regarded me with scorn. “You're so icky. Such anick.”
2013, Tara Taylor Quinn,It Happened on Maple Street:I keep thinking back to last Valentine's Day—I was such anick—and you sent me that card.
2022, Jamila Coleman,Surviving Seventeen… And The Years Leading Up To It, page159:The thought of him and his obsessive begging for sex gave me a predatory vibe and was a totalick.
ick
- (informal)Icky;distasteful orunpleasant.
2012, Sue Moorcroft,Dream a Little Dream:'It's a bitick, to be honest, but Rochelle thought it would be funny. Last year we did dragon's diarrhoea, with Tia Maria and chocolate Angel Delight, but nobody would touch it.'
2015, Candy J Starr,Bad Boy Rock Star: The Complete Story:He thought she would be an embarrassment. That kind of made me feel a bitick.
2021, Jacqueline Firkins,How Not to Fall in Love, page201:There's nothing “ick” about him, but I'm not sure how to say that without sounding like I'm reciting lines from that terrible bodice ripper I took on Theo's practice date.
Probably apronunciation spelling, but no doubt influenced by the other etymologies and distaste for the disease.
ick (uncountable)
- Alternative form ofich(“fish disease”).
ick
- alternative form ofik:I
Borrowed fromLow Germanick, ik.Doublet ofich.
ick (conjunctive)
- (regional, Berlin)I
Ick liebe dir!- I love you!
Weeßick nich. Keene Ahnung!- I don’t know. Not a clue!
- Also used by Johann Christian Trömer alias Jean Chrêtien Toucement, who wrote in a mixture of French and German, like how a French would (mis-)pronounce German.[1]
- ^Encyclopädie der deutschen Nationalliteratur oder biographisch-kritisches Lexicon der deutschen Dichter und Prosaisten seit den frühesten Zeiten; nebst Proben aus ihren Werken. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Dr. O. L. B. Wolff. Siebenter Band. Schmauss bis Z, 1842, p. 395, s.v. „Johann Christian Trömer“: „schrieb Tr. [= Trömmer] in einem Mischmasch von französisch und deutsch, wie es ungefähr ein Franzose sprechen würde“
- Ravensbergisch:eck,ek(used besidesick)
- Münsterländisch:-k(enclitic; used besidesick)
FromMiddle Low Germanik, fromOld Saxonik, fromProto-West Germanic*ik, fromProto-Germanic*ek, fromProto-Indo-European*eǵh₂óm.
ick
- I(first person singular pronoun)
- ick schreev di en Breef
- I wrote you a letter
- Ick keem, ick seeg, ick wunn
- I came, I saw, I conquered. (veni, vidi, vici, attributed toJulius Caesar.)
In the dialect of Fritz Reuter:[1]
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person |
|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|
| Singular | Nominative | ick | du | hei | sei | dat ('t) |
|---|
| Accusative | mi | di | em | ehr | dat |
|---|
| Plural | Nominative | wi | ji | sei |
|---|
| Accusative | uns | jug (ju) |
|---|
- mien (possessive: my, mine)
- sick (reflexive, for the 3rd person)
Possessive pronouns in the dialect of Fritz Reuter:
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person |
|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|
| Singular | min | din | sin | ehr | sin |
|---|
| Plural | uns' | jug | ehr |
|---|
- ^Alfred v. d. Velde:Zu Fritz Reuter! Praktische Anleitung zum Verständniß des Plattdeutschen an der Hand des ersten Kapitels des Fritz Reuter'schen Romanes: „Ut mine Stromtid“. 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1881, p. 15
ick
- alternative form ofI
ick
- alternative form ofik
