wicked

English Online Dictionary. What means wicked‎? What does wicked mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wicked, wikked, an alteration of Middle English wicke, wikke (“morally perverse, evil, wicked”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from an adjectival use of Old English wiċċa (“wizard, sorcerer”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikkō (“necromancer, sorcerer”), though the phonology makes this theory difficult to explain. Alternatively, perhaps related to English wicker, Old Norse víkja (“to bend to, yield, turn, move”), Swedish vika (“to bend, fold, give way to”), English weak.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭkʹĭd, IPA^(key): /ˈwɪkɪd/
• Rhymes: -ɪkɪd

Adjective

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

1. Evil or mischievous by nature.

   Synonyms: evil, immoral, malevolent, malicious, nefarious, twisted, villainous; see also Thesaurus:evil
2. (slang) Excellent; awesome; masterful.

   Synonyms: awesome, bad, cool, dope, excellent, far out, groovy, hot, rad; see also Thesaurus:excellent

3. Harsh; severe.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

wicked (not comparable)

1. (slang, New England, British) Very, extremely.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:very

Usage notes

Use of "wicked" as an adjective (in the sense of "extreme, awesome") rather than an intensifying adverb ("extremely, very") is sometimes considered an error when it is used to suggest a Boston or Northeast dialect. In fact, this is not necessarily true in the case of Bostonians born in the 1960s and 70s (and perhaps later) or in other New England dialects. "That's a wicked car" is perhaps used mostly by older Bostonians, but "that car's wicked" and especially "(that's) wicked!" (in the sense of "fantastic, awesome, great") are common in Boston.

What is or was special to Boston and the Northeast is usage as an adverb and an adjective, not usage only as an adverb. However, the Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries no longer label the adverbial usage a regionalism.

Translations

Etymology 2

See wick.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭkt, IPA^(key): /wɪkt/
• Rhymes: -ɪkt

Verb

wicked

1. simple past and past participle of wick

Adjective

wicked (not comparable)

1. Having a wick.

Derived terms

• multiwicked

Etymology 3

See wick.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪkɪd/
• Rhymes: -ɪkɪd

Adjective

wicked

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) Active; brisk.
2. (British, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Infested with maggots.
3. Alternative form of wick, as applying to inanimate objects only.

References

• “wicked”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Dewick

Middle English

Adjective

wicked

1. Alternative form of wikked

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English wikked.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɪˈkiːd/

Adjective

wicked

1. wicked

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 104