Etymologically
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sickness

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɪknɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English siknesse,[2][3] inherited from Old English sēocnes (“sickness, disease”) (also sēocnesse),[2][3][4] formed from Old English sēoc (“sick”) + -nes, the ancestors of sick and -ness.[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being ill, and also a particular disease: both in Old English, in the Canons of Edgar and in the medical texts known as the Leechdoms.[6]

Semantic evolution

For centuries sickness meant the same as illness, with figurative uses from the 14th century.[2][6] Johnson (1755) gives the senses "state of being diseased" and "disease, malady".[7] A disturbance of the stomach with retching or vomiting is recorded from 1604,[6] and in the late 19th century the word began to narrow towards nausea and stomach upsets, leaving illness as, in the Century Dictionary's words quoted by Etymonline, "a rather more elegant and less definite term".[2] Other specialized senses were a fault in wine (1674), utter disgust or weariness (1779, in Fanny Burney), and a sickly colour (1849, in Ruskin).[6] In Scotland and Westmorland it was a disease of sheep, also called braxy or blackwater.[8][6]

Timeline

  • Old English – illness; a particular disease.[6]
  • a1340 – figurative use, in Richard Rolle.[6]
  • 1604 – nausea and vomiting.[6]
  • 1674 – a defect in wines.[6]
  • 1755 – Johnson: state of being diseased; disease, malady.[7]
  • 1779 – utter disgust or weariness.[6]
  • 1794 – a disease of sheep.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The state of being ill; illness, poor health.
  2. A particular disease.
  3. Nausea or vomiting.
  4. An unsound or corrupt condition of something.

Word family

  • airsickness
  • carsickness
  • greensickness
  • seasickness
  • African sleeping sickness
  • altitude sickness
  • decompression sickness
  • falling sickness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)