wicked

English

Etymology 1

1225-75 Middle English wikked, wikke, an alteration of wicke, adjectival use of Old English wicca (“wizard, sorcerer”)

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭkʹĭd, IPA: /ˈwɪkɪd/, SAMPA: /"wIkId/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. Evil or mischievous by nature.
2. (slang) Excellent; awesome; masterful; deeply satisfying.

   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

• (evil or mischievous): evil, immoral, malevolent, malicious, nefarious, twisted, villainous, See also Wikisaurus:bad
• (slang: excellent; awesome): awesome, bad, cool, dope, excellent, far out, groovy, hot, rad, See also Wikisaurus:excellent

Derived terms

• wickedly
• wickedness

Translations

evil or mischevious

Arabic: شرير (shiriir) Armenian: չար (hy) (čar) Chinese: 邪惡, 邪恶 (xiéè) Coptic: ϩⲟⲟⲩ (hoou) Dutch: kwaadaardig (nl) Egyptian: ḏw Finnish: ilkeä, häijy, paha, pahanilkinen French: méchant (fr) m., méchante (fr) f. German: böse (de) Hungarian: gonosz (hu) Italian: malvagio (it) m., malvagia (it) f.

Japanese: 意地悪い (いじわるい, ijiwarui) Korean: 나쁜 (nappeun) Latin: malus (la) Polish: nikczemny (pl), podły (pl) Portuguese: mau (pt) m., má (pt) f., malvado (pt) m., bárbaro (pt) m. Romanian: rău (ro) m. and n., răutăcios (ro) m. and n. Russian: злой (ru) (zloj) Scottish Gaelic: olc, meallta Spanish: malvado (es) Swedish: elak (sv), syndig (sv) Turkish: lanetli (tr), uğursuz (tr) West Frisian: glûpsk (fy)

slang: awesome

Czech: skvělý (cs) Finnish: siisti (fi) French: génial (fr), sensass (fr), super (fr), mortel (fr), chanmé (fr)

Portuguese: legal (pt), da hora (pt) (slang), muito louco (pt) (slang) Spanish: asombroso (es), bacán (es) Swedish: grym (sv), fet (sv)

Adverb

wicked (not comparable)

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

   The band we went to see the other night was wicked loud!

Synonyms

• hella, helluv (primarily Northern California slang)

Translations

slang: very

Finnish: pirun (fi), vähän (fi) French: trop (fr)

Spanish: muy (es) Swedish: grymt (sv), fett (sv)

Noun

the wicked plural

1. people who are wicked.

Translations

people who are wicked

Hebrew: רשעים (he) (r'sha'ím) m.

Yiddish: רשעים (yi) (r'shó'im) m. pl.

Etymology 2

See wick

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭkt, IPA: /wɪkt/, SAMPA: /wIkt/

Verb

wicked

1. Simple past tense and past participle of wick.

Adjective

wicked (not comparable)

1. Having a wick.
2. (UK, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Infested with maggots.