ick

See also: ICK, and -ick

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪk

Etymology 1

Interjection

ick

1. An exclamation of disgust

   Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair! Ick!

   • 2014, Vicki Robin, Blessing the Hands That Feed Us: Lessons from a 10-Mile Diet:

     An aside for those who think “ick” about goat milk: If there are no billy goats around to arouse those sex hormones, goat milk does not taste “goat-y.

Synonyms

• ew
• ugh
• yuck

Related terms

• icky

Etymology 2

Back-formation from icky.

Noun

ick (plural not attested)

1. (informal, uncountable) Something distasteful or physically unpleasant to touch.
   • 2011, J. Morgan, Southern Werewolf Chronicles Book Two: Were the Moon Don't Shine:

     Like it wasn't bad enough that I was soaked to the bone, now I had to lug an ick covered designer original across a puddle filled runway.

   • 2015, Chris Lynch, Killing Time in Crystal City, page 182:

     Did you get ick all over my things? Should I walk myself through a car wash on the way home?

2. (informal) A feeling of revulsion.

   to have the ick

   • 1999 March 30, judy wieder, “Steve Kmetko's true hollywood story”, in The Advocate, page 36:

     And I was nodding, "Uh-huh," trying not to have an ick attack, worrying, Is my face giving something away?

   • 2017, Caragh M. O'Brien, The Keep of Ages, page 36:

     I wish none of this bothered me, but I feel this ick about Burnham and it isn't going away.

   • 2018, NJ Damschroder, Manifest Destiny:

     She'd woken up today with a general ick about doing this job, but every time she considered canceling and giving Hailey her money back, she couldn't do it.

   • 2022, Anna Williamson, Where is the Love?: The Honest Guide to Dating and Relationships:

     And as sad as that can be, we can't fake our feelings – if you've got the ick, you've got the ick.

   • 2024 March 12, J. Edward Moreno, quoting Kathryn D. Coduto, “Dating Apps Have Hit a Wall. Can They Turn Things Around?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “People use dating apps, but I don’t know anyone who pays for it,” Ms. Wang said. In fact, she said that she would consider it an “ick” if she learned somebody was paying for a subscription.

3. (slang) Anything moaned about; a gripe.
   • 1963, Thomas A. Erhard, The Electronovac Gasser: A Farce in Three Acts, page 45:

     How can you stand such an ick ?

   • 2009, Mary-Janice Davidson, Nina Bangs, Janelle Denison, Surf's Up:

     Of course, the idea of drinking blood is a total ick right now, but I suppose once you—

   • 2012, Doris Piserchia, The Dimensioneers:

     For the umpteenth time that day one of my fellow men regarded me with scorn. “You're so icky. Such an ick.”

   • 2013, Tara Taylor Quinn, It Happened on Maple Street:

     I keep thinking back to last Valentine's Day—I was such an ick—and you sent me that card.

   • 2022, Jamila Coleman, Surviving Seventeen… And The Years Leading Up To It, page 159:

     The thought of him and his obsessive begging for sex gave me a predatory vibe and was a total ick.

Adjective

ick

1. (informal) icky; distasteful or unpleasant.
   • 2012, Sue Moorcroft, Dream a Little Dream:

     'It's a bit ick, to be honest, but Rochelle thought it would be funny. Last year we did dragon's diarrhoea, with Tia Maria and chocolate Angel Delight, but nobody would touch it.'

   • 2015, Candy J Starr, Bad Boy Rock Star: The Complete Story:

     He thought she would be an embarrassment. That kind of made me feel a bit ick.

   • 2021, Jacqueline Firkins, How Not to Fall in Love, page 201:

     There's nothing “ick” about him, but I'm not sure how to say that without sounding like I'm reciting lines from that terrible bodice ripper I took on Theo's practice date.

Derived terms

• ick factor

Etymology 3

Noun

ick (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of ich (“fish disease”)

Anagrams

• CKI

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

ick

1. Alternative form of ik: I

German

Alternative forms

• ik
• icke (disjunctive)

Etymology

Borrowed from Low German ick/ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂. Doublet of ich.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪk/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

ick (conjunctive)

1. (regional, Berlin) I

   Ick liebe dir!

   I love you!

   Weeß ick nich. Keene Ahnung!

   I don’t know. Not a clue!

Usage notes

• Also used by Johann Christian Trömer alias Jean Chrêtien Toucement, who wrote in a mixture of French and German, like how a French would (mis-)pronounce German.

See also

• ich

Low German

Alternative forms

• ik
• ek, eck

• Ravensbergisch: eck, ek (used besides ick)
• Münsterländisch: -k (enclitic; used besides ick)

Etymology

From Middle Low German ik, from Old Saxon ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪk/

Pronoun

ick

1. I (first person singular pronoun)

   ick schreev di en Breef

   I wrote you a letter

   Ick keem, ick seeg, ick wunn

   I came, I saw, I conquered. (veni, vidi, vici, attributed to Julius Caesar.)

Declension

In the dialect of Fritz Reuter:

		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
				Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Nominative	ick	du	hei	sei	dat ('t)
	Accusative	mi	di	em	ehr	dat
Plural	Nominative	wi	ji	sei
	Accusative	uns	jug (ju)

Related terms

• mien (possessive: my, mine)
• sick (reflexive, for the 3rd person)

Possessive pronouns in the dialect of Fritz Reuter:

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	min	din	sin	ehr	sin
Plural	uns'	jug	ehr

Middle English

Pronoun

ick

1. Alternative form of I

North Frisian

Pronoun

ick

1. Alternative form of ik