wicked

English

Etymology 1

1225–75 Middle English wikked, wikke, an alteration of wicke, adjectival use of Old English wicca (“wizard, sorcerer”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkô (“necromancer, sorcerer”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: wĭkʹĭd, IPA(key): /ˈwɪkɪd/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Adjective

wicked (comparative wickeder or more wicked, superlative wickedest or most wicked)

  1. Evil or mischievous by nature.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess‎:
      ‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.
  2. (slang) Excellent; awesome; masterful
    That was a wicked guitar solo, bro!
Usage notes
  • Nouns to which "wicked" is often applied: witch, person, man, woman, angel, deed, act, pleasure, delight, game, way, night, word.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Adverb

wicked (not comparable)

  1. (slang, New England, Britain) Very, extremely.
    The band we went to see the other night was wicked loud!
Synonyms
Translations

Noun

wicked pl (plural only)

  1. (humorous) or (religious) People who are wicked.[1]
Translations

Etymology 2

See wick.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: wĭkt, IPA(key): /wɪkt/

Verb

wicked

  1. simple past tense and past participle of wick

Adjective

wicked (not comparable)

  1. Having a wick.
    a two-wicked lamp
  2. (Britain, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Infested with maggots.

References

Middle English

Adjective

wicked

  1. Alternative form of wikked
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