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.

   Synonyms: evil, immoral, malevolent, malicious, nefarious, twisted, villainous; see also Thesaurus:evil

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     ‘[…] 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”. […]’.

   • 1989, Chris Isaak (lyrics and music), “Wicked Game”, in Heart Shaped World:

     What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way / What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you / What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way

2. (slang) Excellent; awesome; masterful.

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

   That was a wicked guitar solo, bro!

Usage notes

Use of "wicked" as an adjective rather than an adverb is considered an error in the Boston dialect.

Derived terms

• wickedly
• wickedness
• wicked tongue

Translations

evil or mischevous

• Arabic: شِرِير‎ (ar) (širīr)

  Egyptian Arabic: شرير‎ (šarīr)

• Armenian: չար (hy) (čʿar)
• Cebuano: payter
• Chinese:

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

• Coptic: ϩⲟⲟⲩ (hoou)
• Czech: podlý (cs)
• Danish: syndig
• Dutch: kwaadaardig (nl), slecht (nl)
• Egyptian: (ḏw)
• Esperanto: malafabla, pekema
• Finnish: ilkeä (fi), häijy (fi), paha (fi), pahanilkinen
• French: méchant (fr) m, méchante (fr) f
• Friulian: cjâtif, trist
• German: böse (de)
• Greek: κακός (el) (kakós)

  Ancient: πονηρός m (ponērós), ἀλιτρός (alitrós)

• Hebrew: רָשָׁע‎ (he) m (rashá')
• Hungarian: gonosz (hu)
• Italian: malvagio (it) m, malvagia f, cattivo (it), diabolico (it), perverso (it), nefasto (it)

• Japanese: 邪悪 (じゃあく, jaaku), 意地悪い (いじわるい, ijiwarui), 腕白 (わんぱく, wanpaku) (mischievous)
• Korean: 나쁘다 (ko) (nappeuda)
• Latin: malus (la)
• Latvian: ļauns
• Maore Comorian: -a peu, -ovu
• Maori: kino (mi), kikino
• Ngazidja Comorian: -a peu
• Persian: شرور‎ (fa) (šarur)
• Plautdietsch: bees, iebel, gottlooss
• Polish: nikczemny (pl), podły (pl)
• Portuguese: mau (pt) m, má (pt) f, malvado (pt) m, bárbaro (pt) m
• Romanian: rău (ro) m or n, răutăcios (ro) m or n, hain (ro) m
• Russian: злой (ru) (zloj), зло́бный (ru) (zlóbnyj), озорно́й (ru) (ozornój) (mischievous), по́длый (ru) (pódlyj)
• Sanskrit: अघ (sa) (agha), दुर्जन (sa) (durjana)
• Scottish Gaelic: olc, meallta
• Spanish: malvado (es), avieso (es) m
• Swahili: -baya
• Swedish: elak (sv), syndig (sv)
• Tachawit: abcaɛ (shy)
• Thai: ชั่วร้าย (chûua-ráai)
• Tocharian B: yolo
• Tok Pisin: nogut
• Turkish: lanetli (tr), uğursuz (tr)
• West Frisian: glûpsk
• Yiddish: שלעכט‎ (shlekht)

slang: awesome

• Chinese:

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

• Czech: hustý (cs)
• Danish: fedt
• Finnish: siisti (fi), paha (fi)
• French: génial (fr), sensass (fr), super (fr), mortel (fr), chanmé (fr)
• German: super (de), genial (de), toll (de), geil (de)

• Italian: diabolico (it), fantastico (it), figata (it)
• 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 (slang)
• Russian: потряса́ющий (ru) (potrjasájuščij), круто́й (ru) (krutój), кла́ссный (ru) (klássnyj), клёвый (ru) (kljóvyj)
• Spanish: asombroso (es), bacán (es)
• Swedish: grym (sv), fet (sv)
• Thai: เจ๋ง (th) (jěng)

Adverb

wicked (not comparable)

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

   Synonyms: hella, helluv

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

Translations

slang: very

• Czech: děsně
• Finnish: pirun (fi), vähän (fi)
• French: trop (fr), diablement (fr)

• Italian: maledettamente (it)
• Spanish: muy (es)
• Swedish: grymt (sv), fett (sv)

Noun

wicked pl (plural only)

1. People who are wicked.

   Genuine cowards follow the wicked and cannot reliably sustain any virtue.

Translations

people who are wicked

• Arabic: الْفُجَّارِ‎ (al-fujjāri)
• Esperanto: malpiuloj
• Hebrew: רשעים‎ m (r'sha'ím)

• Italian: maligno (it) m, diavolo (it) m
• Yiddish: רשעים‎ m pl (r'shó'im)

Etymology 2

See wick.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭkt, IPA^(key): /wɪkt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

Verb

wicked

1. simple past tense and past participle of wick

Adjective

wicked (not comparable)

1. Having a wick.

   a two-wicked lamp

   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     Up went Moggy, with her thick-wicked kitchen candle, to seek repose; […]

Derived terms

• multiwicked

Etymology 3

See wick.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪkɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

wicked

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

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Middle English

Adjective

wicked

1. Alternative form of wikked