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/, X-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 mischevous

• Arabic: شرير (ar) (širīr)
• Armenian: չար (hy) (čar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邪惡 (cmn), 邪恶 (cmn) (xié'è); 調皮 (cmn), 调皮 (cmn) (tiáopí) (mischievous)

• 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: 邪悪 (ja) (じゃあく, jaaku), 意地悪い (ja) (いじわるい, ijiwarui), 腕白 (ja) (わんぱく, wanpaku) (mischievous)
• Korean: 나쁜 (ko) (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), злобный (ru) (zlóbnyj), озорной (ru) (ozornój) (mischievous)
• Scottish Gaelic: olc, meallta
• Spanish: malvado (es)
• Swedish: elak (sv), syndig (sv)
• Tok Pisin: nogut (tpi)
• Turkish: lanetli (tr), uğursuz (tr)
• West Frisian: glûpsk (fy)

slang: awesome

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 棒 (cmn) (bàng), 了不起 (cmn) (liǎobuqǐ), 酷 (cmn) (kù)

• Czech: skvělý (cs)
• Finnish: siisti (fi)
• French: génial (fr), sensass (fr), super (fr), mortel (fr), chanmé (fr)
• German: super (de), genial (de), toll (de)

• Japanese: 素晴らしい (ja) (すばらしい, subarashii), 素敵 (ja) (すてき, suteki), 凄い (ja) (すごい, sugoi)
• Portuguese: legal (pt), da hora (pt) (slang), muito louco (pt) (slang)
• Russian: потрясающий (ru) (potrjasájuščij), крутой (ru) (krutój), классный (ru) (klássnyj), клёвый (ru) (kljóvyj)
• 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/, X-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.