ill

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ille (“morally evil, malicious”),^[2][3] borrowed from Old Norse illr (“evil, bad; hard, difficult; mean”),^[4][2][5] a word of unknown origin.^[4][5][6] It is not considered related to evil.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Morally evil, malicious: probably about 1150 in Barnhart,^[2] about 1200 in Etymonline, where other 13th-century senses were “malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult”.^[4] The adverb, harshly or wickedly, is from the late 12th century.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

“Incompetent, deficient” is from before 1325, in Cursor Mundi,^[2] and “marked by evil intentions, harmful” from the mid-14th century.^[4] The sense “sick, unwell” is from the mid-15th century, before 1460 in Barnhart,^[4][2] probably from a use like the Old Norse idiom “it is bad to me”;^[4] before then a person would be sick, as Americans still are.^[7] The adverb did not shift to physical sickness as the adjective did.^[4] It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, from the days of sailing ships, is from the mid-16th century.^[7] Ill will is from before 1325, ill-gotten from before 1425, and ill-fated from 1710, in Pope.^[2] The slang inverted sense “very good, cool” is from the 1980s.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – morally evil.^[2]
• c. 1250 – noun, evil people.^[2]
• before 1325 – deficient, and ill will.^[2]
• mid-14th century – harmful.^[4]
• mid-15th century – sick.^[4][2]
• mid-16th century – an ill wind.^[7]
• 1710 – ill-fated.^[2]
• 1980s – slang, very good.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not healthy; sick.
2. Causing harm or suffering; bad: ill effects.
3. Hostile or unfriendly: ill feeling.
4. Unfavourable; unlucky: an ill omen.
5. Not up to standard: ill manners.

Adverb

1. Badly; not well.
2. Scarcely or with difficulty: we can ill afford it.

Noun

1. Evil; harm.
2. Something that causes suffering; a misfortune: social ills.

Word family

• illness
• ill-being
• ill-looking
• ill-omened
• ill-starred
• ill-usage
• ill-use
• ill-wisher

Related words

• evil
• sick
• illth

Usage notes

Middle English set ill against well in words now obsolete, such as illfare (about 1300) and illcome (1570s), and in illth.^[4]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press