Link Centre Dictionary

sickly

UK/ˈsɪkli/ US/ˈsɪkli/ uncommon archaic literary obsolete rare

adjective

1.
2.

somewhat ill or prone to illness

  • “my poor ailing grandmother”
  • “feeling a bit indisposed today”
  • “you look a little peaked”
  • “feeling poorly”
  • “a sickly child”
  • “is unwell and can”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Middle English seekly, sekely, siklich, sekeliche, equivalent to sick + -ly. Possibly a modification of Old English sīcle (“sickly”) and/or derived from Old Norse sjúkligr (“sickly”). Cognate with Dutch ziekelijk, Middle High German siechlich, Danish sygelig, Swedish sjuklig, Icelandic sjúklegur. The verb is from the adjective.

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.