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^(key): /ˈwɪkɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. Evil or mischievous by nature.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, The China Governess^[2]:

     ‘[…] 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”. […]’.

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 (čʿar)
• Chinese:

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

• Coptic: ϩⲟⲟⲩ (hoou)
• Dutch: kwaadaardig (nl)
• Egyptian: ḏw

• Finnish: ilkeä (fi), häijy, paha (fi), pahanilkinen
• French: méchant (fr) m, méchante (fr) f
• German: böse (de)
• Hungarian: gonosz (hu)
• Italian: malvagio (it) m, malvagia f

• 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: 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, n, răutăcios (ro) m, n, hain (ro) m
• 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
• Turkish: lanetli (tr), uğursuz (tr)
• West Frisian: glûpsk

slang: awesome

• Chinese:

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

• Czech: hustý (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 (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: 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 m (r'sha'ím)

• Yiddish: רשעים m pl (r'shó'im)

Etymology 2

See wick

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭkt, IPA^(key): /wɪkt/

Verb

wicked

1. simple past tense and past participle of wick

Adjective

wicked (not comparable)

1. Having a wick.

   a two-wicked lamp

2. (UK, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Infested with maggots.