morbid

English

WOTD – 30 October 2009

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mer-der.?

Latin morbus

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der.

Latin -idus

Latin morbidusder.

English morbid

From Latin morbidus (“diseased”), from morbus (“sickness”), itself from the root of morī (“to die”) or directly from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to rub, pound, wear away”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔː.bɪd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹ.bɪd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

morbid (comparative more morbid, superlative most morbid)

1. (originally) Of, relating to, or afflicted by disease. [from 1650s]
   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 127:

     “Enough to make a man morbid, to be stalked by beastly journalists and stared at by gaping moon-faced idiots, wherever he goes!”

2. (by extension) Taking an interest in, or fixating on, unhealthy or unwholesome subjects such as death, decay, disease. [from 1770s]

   morbid boy

   morbid child

   morbid mind

   morbid obsession

   morbid question

3. Suggesting the horror of death; macabre or ghoulish.

   morbid poem

   morbid song

4. Grisly or gruesome.

   morbid video

Synonyms

• (of or relating to disease): pathological
• (unhealthy or unwholesome): sick, twisted, unhealthy, unwholesome, warped
• (suggesting the horror of death): black, ghoulish, grim, macabre
• (grisly, gruesome): bloody, disgusting, gory, grisly, gruesome, sickening

Derived terms

• comorbid
• comorbidity
• hypermorbidity
• intermorbid
• monomorbid
• morbidity
• morbidize
• morbidly
• morbidness
• morbid obesity
• morbid owlet
• multimorbid
• nonmorbid
• polymorbid
• postmorbid
• premorbid
• supermorbid
• unmorbid

Related terms

• morbidezza
• morbilous

Translations

of or relating to disease

• Armenian: հիվանդագին (hy) (hivandagin), հիվանդոտ (hy) (hivandot)
• Bulgarian: патологичен (bg) (patologičen)
• Catalan: mòrbid (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: chorobný (cs), patologický
• Dutch: morbide (nl), ongezond (nl), ziek (nl), ziekelijk (nl)
• Finnish: sairaalloinen (fi), sairas (fi)
• French: morbide (fr) m or f
• Galician: mórbido (gl)
• German: morbid (de)
• Irish: galrach
• Italian: morboso (it)
• Japanese: 病的 (ja) (びょうてき, byōteki)
• Russian: боле́зненный (ru) (boléznennyj), нездоро́вый (ru) (nezdoróvyj)
• Spanish: mórbido (es)
• Turkish: hastalıksal, patolojik (tr)
• Ukrainian: патологічний m (patolohičnyj), хворобливий m (xvoroblyvyj)

interested or fixated on death and decay

• Czech: morbidní (cs)

unhealthy or unwholesome, especially psychologically

• Bulgarian: мрачен (bg) (mračen), меланхоличен (bg) (melanholičen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: nemocný (cs)
• Dutch: morbide (nl), ongezond (nl), ziekelijk (nl)
• Finnish: sairaalloinen (fi), sairas (fi)
• Galician: mórbido (gl)
• Georgian: არაჯანსაღი (araǯansaɣi), ავადმყოფური (avadmq̇opuri)
• German: krankhaft (de)
• Hebrew: מורבידי (he)
• Hungarian: beteges (hu), morbid (hu)
• Italian: morboso (it)
• Japanese: 不健全 (ja) (ふけんぜん, fukenzen)
• Norwegian: morbid
• Plautdietsch: looj
• Portuguese: mórbido (pt)
• Russian: ненорма́льный (ru) (nenormálʹnyj), нездоро́вый (ru) (nezdoróvyj)
• Spanish: morboso (es)
• Swedish: morbid (sv)
• Ukrainian: (психологічно) нездоровий m (nezdorovyj), хворий m (xvoryj)

suggesting the horror of death

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: morbide (nl), macaber (nl)
• Finnish: kammottava (fi), makaaberi (fi)
• Hebrew: מורבידי (he)
• Italian: raccapricciante (it)
• Norwegian: morbid
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: makaber (sv)

grisly, gruesome

• Bulgarian: ужасен (bg) (užasen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: morbide (nl), akelig (nl), gruwelijk (nl), macaber (nl)
• Finnish: kammottava (fi), kauhea (fi), hirveä (fi), järkyttävä (fi)
• French: morbide (fr) m or f
• Italian: raccapricciante (it)
• Norwegian: morbid
• Russian: омерзи́тельный (ru) (omerzítelʹnyj)
• Ukrainian: жахливий m (žaxlyvyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} morbide (fr), ^{(please verify)} macabre (fr), ^{(please verify)} malsain (fr), ^{(please verify)} pathologique (fr)

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “morbid”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• bromid

Danish

Etymology

From Latin morbidus.

Adjective

morbid (neuter morbidt, plural and definite singular attributive morbide)

1. morbid

Inflection

Inflection of morbid

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	morbid	mere morbid	mest morbid2
indefinite neuter singular	morbidt	mere morbid	mest morbid2
plural	morbide	mere morbid	mest morbid2
definite attributive1	morbide	mere morbid	mest morbide

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Derived terms

• morbiditet

References

• “morbid” in Den Danske Ordbog

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔʁˈbiːt/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

morbid (strong nominative masculine singular morbider, comparative morbider, superlative am morbidesten)

1. morbid

Declension

Positive forms of morbid

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist morbid	sie ist morbid	es ist morbid	sie sind morbid
strong declension (without article)	nominative	morbider	morbide	morbides	morbide
	genitive	morbiden	morbider	morbiden	morbider
	dative	morbidem	morbider	morbidem	morbiden
	accusative	morbiden	morbide	morbides	morbide
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der morbide	die morbide	das morbide	die morbiden
	genitive	des morbiden	der morbiden	des morbiden	der morbiden
	dative	dem morbiden	der morbiden	dem morbiden	den morbiden
	accusative	den morbiden	die morbide	das morbide	die morbiden
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein morbider	eine morbide	ein morbides	(keine) morbiden
	genitive	eines morbiden	einer morbiden	eines morbiden	(keiner) morbiden
	dative	einem morbiden	einer morbiden	einem morbiden	(keinen) morbiden
	accusative	einen morbiden	eine morbide	ein morbides	(keine) morbiden

Comparative forms of morbid

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist morbider	sie ist morbider	es ist morbider	sie sind morbider
strong declension (without article)	nominative	morbiderer	morbidere	morbideres	morbidere
	genitive	morbideren	morbiderer	morbideren	morbiderer
	dative	morbiderem	morbiderer	morbiderem	morbideren
	accusative	morbideren	morbidere	morbideres	morbidere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der morbidere	die morbidere	das morbidere	die morbideren
	genitive	des morbideren	der morbideren	des morbideren	der morbideren
	dative	dem morbideren	der morbideren	dem morbideren	den morbideren
	accusative	den morbideren	die morbidere	das morbidere	die morbideren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein morbiderer	eine morbidere	ein morbideres	(keine) morbideren
	genitive	eines morbideren	einer morbideren	eines morbideren	(keiner) morbideren
	dative	einem morbideren	einer morbideren	einem morbideren	(keinen) morbideren
	accusative	einen morbideren	eine morbidere	ein morbideres	(keine) morbideren

Superlative forms of morbid

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am morbidesten	sie ist am morbidesten	es ist am morbidesten	sie sind am morbidesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	morbidester	morbideste	morbidestes	morbideste
	genitive	morbidesten	morbidester	morbidesten	morbidester
	dative	morbidestem	morbidester	morbidestem	morbidesten
	accusative	morbidesten	morbideste	morbidestes	morbideste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der morbideste	die morbideste	das morbideste	die morbidesten
	genitive	des morbidesten	der morbidesten	des morbidesten	der morbidesten
	dative	dem morbidesten	der morbidesten	dem morbidesten	den morbidesten
	accusative	den morbidesten	die morbideste	das morbideste	die morbidesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein morbidester	eine morbideste	ein morbidestes	(keine) morbidesten
	genitive	eines morbidesten	einer morbidesten	eines morbidesten	(keiner) morbidesten
	dative	einem morbidesten	einer morbidesten	einem morbidesten	(keinen) morbidesten
	accusative	einen morbidesten	eine morbideste	ein morbidestes	(keine) morbidesten

Derived terms

• komorbid
• Morbidität

Related terms

• Komorbidität

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin morbidus or French morbide.

Adjective

morbid m or n (feminine singular morbidă, masculine plural morbizi, feminine/neuter plural morbide)

1. morbid

Declension

Declension of morbid

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	morbid		morbidă		morbizi	morbide
	definite	morbidul		morbida		morbizii	morbidele
genitive- dative	indefinite	morbid		morbide		morbizi	morbide
	definite	morbidului		morbidei		morbizilor	morbidelor

Swedish

Adjective

morbid (comparative morbidare, superlative morbidast)

1. morbid

Declension

Inflection of morbid

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	morbid	morbidare	morbidast
neuter singular	morbidt	morbidare	morbidast
plural	morbida	morbidare	morbidast
masculine plural2	morbide	morbidare	morbidast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	morbide	morbidare	morbidaste
all	morbida	morbidare	morbidaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Related terms

• morbiditet (“morbidity”)

References

• “morbid”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “morbid”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “morbid”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)